Digital Commons Network^™

The Women’S Renaissance: An Analysis Of Gender Expectations And Experiences In Early Modern Europe, Taryn Shelnutt-Beam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1976 Joan Kelly released her influential article “Did Women have a Renaissance?” Kelly argued that women did not enjoy any of the benefits of the period. Rather, she claimed, the lives of women were actually worse after the 1400s than they had been before. Since 1976, new primary documents authored by women have been discovered. Moreover, new access to relevant writings by authors like Francesco Barbaro, Pier Vergerio, Leonardo Bruni, Juan Luis Vives, and Erasmus make revisiting Kelly’s arguments possible. This thesis uses a sample of these texts to explore women’s experiences and create innovative avenues to explore in …

Interpreting Shift Encoders As State Space Models For Stationary Time Series, Patrick Donkoh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Time series analysis is a statistical technique used to analyze sequential data points collected or recorded over time. While traditional models such as autoregressive models and moving average models have performed sufficiently for time series analysis, the advent of artificial neural networks has provided models that have suggested improved performance. In this research, we provide a custom neural network; a shift encoder that can capture the intricate temporal patterns of time series data. We then compare the sparse matrix of the shift encoder to the parameters of the autoregressive model and observe the similarities. We further explore how we can …

The Effects Of Text-Based Gaming On Reading Comprehension For Students With Intellectual Disability, Faith Ihrig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, reading comprehension and reading engagement have decreased in the United States. Our world is also becoming increasingly technological, and a large percentage of individuals in the United States, specifically children, are playing video games. There are increasing amounts of video games that target educational skills, such as reading and math, and video games that have been created strictly for entertainment. This study examined the potential effects of playing text-based video games on the comprehension and engagement of 6-8 grade students with intellectual disabilities. A Multiple Baseline Across Participants single case design was used to measure the …

The Greater Implications Of Self-Perceptions Of Aging Among Younger Adults: Results From The Socially Nutritious Volunteer Training Program, Ashlyn Cobble

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rapidly growing rate of the older adult population has created a need to better understand younger adults’ self-perceptions of aging and current trends of ageism. The purpose of this secondary data analysis research project was to determine changes, if any, in participants’ self-perception of aging after the Socially Nutritious facilitator or nutrition ambassador volunteer training, which aims to develop knowledge and skills related to aging trends, older adult nutrition, preventing ageism, and communication and educational considerations when working with older adults. Findings indicate that participants with more frequent interactions with older adults had a more positive perception of their …

Endo/Exo, Delaney Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist, Delaney Shae Rogers, discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Endo / Exo, held at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City, TN. The exhibition dates are from March 25th through April 5th, 2024, with a public reception held April 5th, 2024. The author provides insight into the concept behind the work in the exhibition and shares how the making process and specific materials impact the work. This body of work explores coping with grief, anxiety, and the state of the world through the process of making and communicating otherwise difficult topics through visually digestible symbolic language.

From Silence To Interpretation: West Lawn Cemetery In Johnson, Tennessee And The Case For Cemeteries As Public History Sites, Julia Underkoffler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The preservation needs and historical significance located within West Lawn Cemetery in Johnson City, Tennessee, a historically African American Cemetery, show the potential cemeteries have as an impactful public history site. Similar to sites like historic houses, museums, and battlefields; cemeteries offer another insight into the past through interpretation and preservation. A cemetery's ethical and practical uses as a public history site can pose complex challenges. This thesis aims to provide a compelling argument for cemeteries as repositories of irreplaceable history, providing a space for their spot in the field of public history. Although little scholarly literature is given on …

Exploring The Correlates And Predictors Of Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy And Uptake Among People Living With Hiv/Aids In Tennessee, Charles Olomofe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background

The administration of the COVID-19 vaccines has met with resistance and hesitance from different population groups including people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). It is concerning to know that PLWHAs are showing a higher rate of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy than the general population. The objective of this study is to synthesize the literature and determine the correlates and predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among PLWHA using primary and secondary data.

Methods

A scoping review was conducted to identify and summarize studies on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among PLWHA using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) Extension for …

Exploring Spatiotemporal Patterns In Hazardous Hydrologic Events: Assessment, Communication, And Mitigation Through Geospatial Technologies, Emmanuel Afriyie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tennessee has a long history of meteorological hazards that have caused property damage and loss of life. Given climate change and variability, it is imperative to look at trends to ascertain changes spatiotemporally. Space-time cubes, a novel geographic tool, were used to analyze historical heavy precipitation (1-, 2-, and 5-year returns), floods, and flash flood data in Tennessee counties to assess the trends, identify emerging hotspots/cold spots and display changes over space and time. For all return periods, trends analysis revealed that heavy precipitation events are increasing in several counties across the state, with middle Tennessee identified as a hotspot. …

Familial Sex Trafficking In East Tennessee, Mary K. Brannock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation was completed in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Public Health program at East Tennessee State University. The dissertation follows the Manuscript Format which includes three manuscripts, these manuscripts regard familial sex trafficking and are as follows, a scoping review, an empirical study on regional familial sex trafficking, and a policy implications paper on criminal record relief for survivors of familial sex trafficking.

The scoping review includes eight peer reviewed studies on familial sex trafficking and a summary of grey literature. Thematic analysis was used to map the existing literature onto the Three Ps of human trafficking: Prevention, …

The Association Between Prenatal Care And Postpartum Depression: Current State And Future Directions, Esther Adebayo-Abikoye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a major public health challenge and associated with poor maternal and infant health outcomes. Quality prenatal care decreases adverse outcomes in pregnancy and may reduce PPD risk factors. This study critically reviews the evidence about the role of prenatal care practices in reducing PPD prevalence across population groups and examines the association between prenatal care timing and counseling content with PPD prevalence.

Methods

A scoping review was completed across eight databases to synthesize evidence about prenatal care and PPD across different contextual settings. National data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) was used …

“They Can’T Just Stamp Out This Faith”: Cold War Anti-Communism And International Evangelism At The Appalachian Preaching Mission, Braden Lay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Appalachian Preaching Missions (1955-1981) occurred annually in Northeast Tennessee, with their predecessor, the Bristol Preaching Mission, dating back to at least 1949. Local churches, primarily Protestant, organized and convened these annual ecumenical gatherings. Nationally known clergy and laypeople from various denominations spoke, with up to several thousand congregants attending each mission. These individuals provided sermons and speeches on spiritual, domestic, and international issues. Among the most consistently repeated sermon themes was Christianity’s spiritual conflict with atheistic communism. This work addresses the missions’ origins and how the speakers spoke on international Christian missions in decolonized or developing nations as threatened …

From Tidewater To Tennessee: The Structuring Influences Of Virginia Schemata In The Settlement Of East Tennessee, Slade Nakoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For over two hundred years, historians have debated the historical importance of early Tennessee migrants in shaping the state’s history. These discussions center around North Carolina's impact compared to Virginia's. By shifting discourse to the retention of migrant mentalities, the overwhelming influence of Virginia emerges through the continuity of privilege and commodification schemata. This study employs an interdisciplinary methodological approach combining schema theory, memory studies, and material culture analysis to outline the retention of mentalities from Tidewater, Virginia, to East Tennessee during the early settlement period. By utilizing the case study of John Carter of Watauga (1728-1781), the research illustrates …

Cost Saving And Resource Limited Public Health Interventions In Southeast Asia, Amanda Blackwelder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Public health interventions are any activity with the objective of improving human health such as preventing or curing disease, reducing the severity or duration of a disease, or assisting in regaining function after a disease or injury. These interventions are known to be impactful; however, those living with the highest burden of disease such as individuals in low- and middle-income countries have limited money and resources to successfully implement these interventions. Southeast Asian countries are among some of the middle-income countries effected by the lack of affordable interventions. The aims of this study were to assess cost saving and …

In A State Of Becoming, Benjamin Conley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses his Master of Fine Arts exhibition titled, In a State of Becoming. The exhibition was on view at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City, TN from February 26 March 8, 2024. In a State of Becoming showcased three large scale paintings, five multimedia prints, two sculptural installations, and a video projection installation. Conley's thesis research and current artistic practice revolve around the interfaces, connections, and relationships of humans and animals. Conley explicitly uses language like "animal" to describe "non-human animals" in his work's context. The exhibited works focused primarily on how the artist and/or the viewer …

Government Misinformation Platforms, Janet Freilich

Faculty Scholarship

There is a harmful mismatch between how information published by the government is perceived-as highly trustworthy-and the reality that it is often not. This Article shows that the government frequently collects information from third party private entities and publishes it with no review or vetting. Although this information is riddled with errors and inaccuracies, scholars, policymakers, and the public treat the information with unwarranted confidence because it derives from the government. Further, institutional imprimatur (and consequent trust) attaches to information even tangentially associated with the government and to information where the government explicitly disclaims review.

This Article highlights the ubiquity …

California And Europe Require Scope 3 Climate Disclosures Despite Sec Retreat, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

In March 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued proposed regulations on disclosure of climate-related information by public companies, including their material Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This created a firestorm, drawing more than 24,000 comment letters.On March 6, 2024, the SEC issued its final rule, significantly narrowing the requirements and, notably, eliminating the Scope 3 disclosures. Companies that do not want to make Scope 3 disclosures should not rejoice and environmental advocates and others who do want to see such disclosures should not despair, because new requirements from both California and Europe do mandate this information …

Patient Interest In And Clinician Reservations On Polygenic Embryo Screening: A Qualitative Study Of Stakeholder Perspectives, D Barlevy, I Cenolli, T Campbell, R Furrer, M Mukherjee, K Kostick-Quenet, S Carmi, T Lencz, G Lázaro-Muñoz, S Pereira

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Purpose: We explored and compared perspectives of reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialists (REIs) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients regarding polygenic embryo screening (PES), a new type of preimplantation screening that estimates the genetic chances of developing polygenic conditions and traits in the future.

Methods: Qualitative thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with US-based REIs and IVF patients.

Results: Clinicians and patients often held favorable views of screening embryos for physical or psychiatric conditions, though clinicians tended to temper their positive attitudes with specific caveats. Clinicians also expressed negative views about screening embryos for traits more frequently than patients, who generally …

Family Accommodation In Children And Adolescents With Misophonia, Eric A Storch, Andrew G Guzick, Johann D'Souza, Jane Clinger, Daphne Ayton, Minjee Kook, Conor Rork, Eleanor E Smith, Isabel A Draper, Nasim Khalfe, Catherine E Rast, Nicholas Murphy, Marijn Lijfijjt, Wayne K Goodman, Matti Cervin

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Family accommodation (e.g., reassurance, modifying routines, assisting avoidance) has not been explored among youth with misophonia but may have important clinical and intervention implications. We examined family accommodation in 102 children and adolescents with interview-confirmed misophonia and compared its frequency and content to family accommodation in 95 children and adolescents with anxiety disorders. Findings showed that family accommodation was ubiquitous in pediatric misophonia and may be even more frequent than in youth with anxiety disorders. Assisting the child, participating in misophonia-related behaviors, and modifying family routines were endorsed by more than 70% of parents of children with misophonia. Further, compared …

Parent-Led Cognitive Behavioral Teletherapy For Anxiety In Autistic Youth: A Randomized Trial Comparing Two Levels Of Therapist Support, Andrew G Guzick, Sophie C Schneider, Minjee Kook, Julia Rose Iacono, Saira A Weinzimmer, Troy Quast, Sean M Olsen, Killian Rainey Hughes, Emily Jellinek-Russo, Amanda Perozo Garcia, Abigail Candelari, Leandra N Berry, Robin P Goin-Kochel, Wayne K Goodman, Eric A Storch

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Parent-led cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an efficient, promising form of therapy that may be well suited for autistic youth with anxiety disorders, though to date it has been minimally tested. In this study, 87 autistic youth (7 to 13 years old) with anxiety disorders and their parents were randomized to two forms of parent-led CBT in which parents led their child through a guided CBT workbook across 12 weeks: one with low therapist contact (four 30-minute telehealth calls), and one with standard therapist contact (ten 60-minute telehealth calls). Anxiety, functional impairment, and autism features significantly declined across therapy, without …

Cross-Pollination: Building A Co-Taught Course To Examine Art And Sex Through The Lens Of Botany, Christopher T. Martine, Diamanda A. Zizis, Anna K. Kell

Faculty Journal Articles

Driven by overlapping interests in plants, art, and diversity in sex expression, Anna Kell (Department of Art and Art History) and Chris Martine (Department of Biology) developed a course that integrates the perspectives of a visual artist and a botanist. Art & Sex Through the Lens of Botany seeks to impart the importance of making connections across disciplines and the value of visual literacy across academic lines. The course introduces foundational concepts in each field and encourages students to integrate and explore these different systems of knowledge and their intersections. In addition to developing fluencies related to both general botany …

How Hydrophobicity, Side Chains, And Salt Affect The Dimensions Of Disordered Proteins, Srinivas Chakravarthy, Joseph R Sachleben, Sarah Antilla, Nina Hartrampf, Joshua A Riback, Isabelle A Gagnon, Bradley L Pentelute, Patricia L Clark, Tobin R Sosnick

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Despite the generally accepted role of the hydrophobic effect as the driving force for folding, many intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), including those with hydrophobic content typical of foldable proteins, behave nearly as self-avoiding random walks (SARWs) under physiological conditions. Here, we tested how temperature and ionic conditions influence the dimensions of the N-terminal domain of pertactin (PNt), an IDP with an amino acid composition typical of folded proteins. While PNt contracts somewhat with temperature, it nevertheless remains expanded over 10-58°C, with a Flory exponent, ν, >0.50. Both low and high ionic strength also produce contraction in PNt, but this contraction …

Public Instagram Accounts Of Saudi Women Public Figures In A Context Of Social Change, Gamra Motlaq Albogami

Theses and Dissertations

This research analyzed 100 Instagram posts of ten Saudi women's public figures using a qualitative methodology to explore how their cultural and gender roles and norms are portrayed and how these portrayals align with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 objectives. The findings indicate that these public figures integrate traditional cultural and gender norms with contemporary norms in their online presentations. Traditional attire and familial roles are commonly showcased, underscoring the profoundly ingrained importance of cultural values in alignment with the findings in existing literature. However, there was a noticeable shift towards contemporary portrayals of identity, particularly in professional life, reflecting the …

The Effects Of Juror Characteristics And Case Type On Trans Panic Defense Verdicts, Isabella Noel Coppa

Theses and Dissertations

The trans panic defense is a provocation defense that uses the victim’s transgender identity as justification for the defendant’s violent actions. Previous research has identified juror characteristics that predict support for the gay panic defense (Michalski & Nunez, 2022) and trans panic defense (Michalski et al., 2022), but less is known about whether case type impacts support for the trans panic defense. This study sought to fill this gap by manipulating case type and further exploring juror characteristics that predict greater support of the trans panic defense. This study utilized 188 participants that read crime vignettes featuring transgender or cisgender …

Nir-Spectroscopy With Data-Driven Application For Inspection And Prediction Of Combined Fouling And Moisture Contamination In Railroad Ballast., Eberechi Orie Ichi

Theses and Dissertations

Ballast contamination is a significant and growing challenge that causes railway track deterioration, poor drainage functionality, and early failure of railroad components. Traditional, human, destructive, field sampling, and most nondestructive evaluation (NDE) inspection methods are ineffective. They are plagued by drawbacks, such as inefficiency, subjective inspection outcome, alteration of existing structures, undermining the stability of the railroad substructure, traffic disruptions, and safety concerns, or providing limited information about the condition of the ballast. Therefore, a reliable noncontact technique is needed to evaluate, characterize, monitor, and predict the presence of contamination in railroad ballast. The conventional contamination indices only account for …

Phase Ib/Ii Study Of Lacnotuzumab In Combination With Spartalizumab In Patients With Advanced Malignancies, Chinenye Lynette Ejezie

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Blocking the colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF-1) signal on tumor-associated macrophages can lead to an upregulation of checkpoint molecules, such as programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1), thus causing resistance to this blockade. Combining spartalizumab (PDR001), a high-affinity, ligand-blocking, humanized anti-PD-1 immunoglobulin G4 antibody, with lacnotuzumab (MCS110), a high-affinity, humanized monoclonal antibody directed against human CSF-1 can potentially overcome this resistance.

METHODS: This was a multicenter, phase Ib/II trial using a combination of spartalizumab with lacnotuzumab in patients with advanced cancers, including anti-PD-1/PD-L1 treatment-resistant melanoma, and anti-PD-1/PD-L1 treatment-naïve triple-negative breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and endometrial cancer (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02807844). The …

Patient Priorities Care Increases Long-Term Service And Support Use: Propensity Match Cohort Study, Jennifer Silva

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: Patient priorities care (PPC) is an evidence-based approach designed to help patients achieve what matters most to them by identifying their health priorities and working with clinicians to align the care they provide to the patient's priorities. This study examined the impact of the PPC approach on long-term service and support (LTSS) use among veterans.

DESIGN: Quasi-experimental study examining differences in LTSS use between veterans exposed to PPC and propensity-matched controls not exposed to PPC adjusting for covariates.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-six social workers in 5 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) sites trained in PPC in 2018, 143 veterans who …

Key Variants Via The Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project Whole Genome Sequence Data, Nancy L Heard-Costa, Joshua C Bis, Elizabeth E Blue, Eric Boerwinkle, Philip L De Jager, Myriam Fornage, Ellen M Wijsman, Sudha Seshadri, Josée Dupuis, Gina M Peloso, Anita L Destefano

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified loci associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) but did not identify specific causal genes or variants within those loci. Analysis of whole genome sequence (WGS) data, which interrogates the entire genome and captures rare variations, may identify causal variants within GWAS loci.

METHODS: We performed single common variant association analysis and rare variant aggregate analyses in the pooled population (N cases = 2184, N controls = 2383) and targeted analyses in subpopulations using WGS data from the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP). The analyses were restricted to variants within 100 kb of 83 previously …

Ictal Central Apnea Is Predictive Of Mesial Temporal Seizure Onset: An Intracranial Investigation, Norma Hupp, Jaison Hampson, M R Sandhya Rani, Manuela Ochoa-Urrea, Omar A Alamoudi, Stephen Melius, Sandipan Pati, Jay Gavvala, Nitin Tandon, John C Mosher, Samden D Lhatoo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Ictal central apnea (ICA) is a semiological sign of focal epilepsy, associated with temporal and frontal lobe seizures. In this study, using qualitative and quantitative approaches, we aimed to assess the localizational value of ICA. We also aimed to compare ICA clinical utility in relation to other seizure semiological features of focal epilepsy.

Methods: We analyzed seizures in patients with medically refractory focal epilepsy undergoing intracranial stereotactic electroencephalographic (SEEG) evaluations with simultaneous multimodal cardiorespiratory monitoring. A total of 179 seizures in 72 patients with reliable artifact-free respiratory signal were analyzed.

Results: ICA was seen in 55 of 179 (30.7%) …

Translating Motivational Interviewing For The Hpv Vaccine Into A Computable Ontology Model For Automated Ai Conversational Interaction, Lu Tang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations are lower than expected. To protect the onset of head and neck cancers, innovative strategies to improve the rates are needed. Artificial intelligence may offer some solutions, specifically conversational agents to perform counseling methods. We present our efforts in developing a dialogue model for automating motivational interviewing (MI) to encourage HPV vaccination. We developed a formalized dialogue model for MI using an existing ontology-based framework to manifest a computable representation using OWL2. New utterance classifications were identified along with the ontology that encodes the dialogue model. Our work is available on GitHub under the GPL v.3. …

Risk Evaluation In Occupational Safety And Health Research: Results From A Benchmarking Exercise Of Federal And Academic Irbs

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Research involving working populations can pose unique ethical and risk evaluation challenges. The purpose of this benchmarking project was to assess how federal agencies and academic institutions approach the interpretation and application of key risk evaluation concepts in research involving workers in their places of employment.

METHODS: Key informant interviews were conducted to ascertain current practices related to assessing soundness of research design, determining risk reasonableness and research relatedness of risks, and evaluating the risk of noninvasive clinical tests in occupational settings.

RESULTS: There were noteworthy commonalities among the approaches described to review and address critical aspects of risk …