Digital Commons Network^™

Urgent Radiotherapy For Superior Vena Cava Syndrome In Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Case Report, Arpeet Patel, Nilanjan Haldar, Ida Micaily, Michael Greenberg, Evan Nardone, John A. Lippert, Christopher Fundakowski, Adam C. Mueller

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

Superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome is a life-threatening complication of thoracic malignancies, requiring rapid management in the setting of airway compromise or hemodynamic instability. We present a 59-year-old male with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who developed superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS) due to compression from a large mediastinal mass identified as metastatic lung adenocarcinoma. His declining respiratory status progressed rapidly, necessitating intensive care. After extensive multidisciplinary collaboration, the patient was determined fit for inpatient radiation therapy and 10 fractions of 300 cGy external beam radiotherapy to the obstructing lesion was planned. However, the patient was unable to lay …

Holistic Approaches To Lyme Disease Symptom Management, Leah Van Antwerp

Honors Theses

Lyme disease is a multisystem tick-borne infection that can lead to long-lasting symptoms even after standard antibiotic therapy, with Lyme arthritis being one of the most common and persistent complications. Due to limited research on this issue, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) will be discussed as a reference for understanding treatment options because it is a similar condition. Since many people continue to experience debilitating pain and reduced quality of life after treatment for Lyme disease, holistic approaches have become increasingly popular for symptom management. This literature review examines three holistic modalities-yoga, acupuncture, and diet modifications- and their effectiveness in alleviating arthritic …

Plant Vs. Animal Protein: Effect On Recovery, Performance, And Long-Term Health, Claudia Stachura

Honors Theses

Protein plays a fundamental role in muscle repair, growth, and athletic performance, which has led to increased interest in how different protein sources compare, particularly as plant-based diets become more common among athletes and physically active individuals. The debate surrounding plant-based versus animal-based protein sources primarily focuses on differences in protein quality, amino acid composition, digestibility, and potential long-term health implications. This paper examines current evidence comparing the effectiveness of plant and animal protein sources in supporting muscle protein synthesis (MPS), resistance training adaptations, recovery, and performance, while also considering broader health and environmental outcomes.

Protein supports muscle growth by …

Exploring Healthcare Providers' Perceptions Of Virtual Reality In Lung Cancer Treatment Preparedness: A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study For The Development Of Everybreathmatters, Safa Elkefi, Rongyi Wu, Steven K. Feiner, Lanyi Chen, Guy Hembroff, Alicia K. Matthews

Michigan Tech Publications

This study examined healthcare providers' perceptions of the benefits, challenges, and design preferences for Virtual Reality (VR)-based interventions to support treatment preparedness in lung cancer care. Our study involves 50 surveys and 10 interview responses, in a mixed-method design. We conducted descriptive statistics and thematic analysis through a hybrid inductive-deductive approach. Analysis of the quantitative data helped us capture demographic characteristics, VR familiarity, and perceived VR usefulness. Qualitative analysis gave us a deeper understanding of the VR tool design and Implementation. Descriptive statistics and Fisher's exact tests were used to assess associations, while thematic analysis was conducted on interview transcripts. …

Exploring The Impact Of The Nursing Associate Role On Urinary Tract Infections Within An Acute Elderly Mental Health Setting, Ann Mcdonnell

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORDS: NATIONAL NURSING ASSOCIATE SPECIAL EDITION

Radiation-Induced Brachial Plexopathy: Current Understanding, Diagnosis, And Treatment Options, Alex G. Lambi, Tomas Holly, Ryan E. Tomlinson, Mary F. Barbe

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

Radiation-induced brachial plexopathy (RIBP) is a gruesome complication of cancers treated with radiation therapy around the lung and chest wall, head and neck, and breast and axilla. It can occur in an early-onset (transient) or a late-onset (chronic) fashion. The diagnosis involves exclusion of a compressive neoplastic process, either new or recurrent, and relies largely on patient symptomatology without well-validated, objective scoring systems. Treatment options remain limited as no major advances have been made to prevent or halt disease progression. This article reviews the background incidence, pathophysiology, and diagnosis of RIBP. In addition to surgical treatment options, nonsurgical modalities, often …

2025-12-05 Minutes & Appendices, Longwood University

1964-Present ~ Board of Visitors Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Manual Annotation Protocol And Geometric Feature Classification For 3d Plant Point Clouds Data, Angel A. Barrera, Inhwan Jung, Luke Hussung

Faculty Open Access Works

We created a procedure for hand annotating LiDAR scans of York Poplar trees to segment them based on plant organs and background. These annotated labels were then used to train the classification models capable of distinguishing the plant and its individual organs from the surrounding background.

Resilience In African History, Cymone Fourshey

Faculty Journal Articles

Between 1960, when seventeen African countries gained independence from French colonial rule, and 2020, when the global pandemic of Covid-19 emerged, just over five hundred scholarly books or articles were published addressing, to varying degrees, resilience on the African continent. Working toward this special issue has made it clear that there continues to be a great deal of slippage in how scholars describe resilience. This concept is often conflated with terms such as “resistance,” “persistence,” and “endurance.” While these do express ways humans respond to adversity, they are distinct from resilience, which is rooted in adaptation not opposition.1 Some people …

Variability In Insurance Adequacy For Children With Special Health Care Needs On Medicaid., Amy J. Houtrow, Matt Hall, James M. Perrin, Dennis Z. Kuo, Jeffrey D. Colvin, Allysa Ware, Jeffery S. Schiff, Jay Berry, Ryan J. Coller

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

This survey study quantifies state-to-state variation and predictors of Medicaid insurance continuity and adequacy among children with special health care needs.

Moderators Of A Mhealth Intervention For Adolescent Physical Activity: Intervention Refinement Study., Christopher C. Cushing, Adrian Ortega, David A. Fedele, Calissa J. Leslie-Miller, Jordan A. Carlson, Ann M. Davis, Joshua M. Smyth

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: An adaptive text messaging intervention to promote adolescent physical activity has demonstrated feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy in a recent proof-of-concept study. To inform future intervention development, a secondary analysis of the data examined how physical activity is influenced by mood, environment, and physical feelings of energy and fatigue.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to understand how both macro- and microtemporal variables (eg, psychological and environmental variables at both levels) influence the efficacy of a brief mobile health intervention (ie, NUDGE) for physical activity.

METHODS: Using a matched control design, we evaluated the effect of daily positive and negative affect, …

2024 Child Fatality Annual Report, Tennessee. Department Of Health.

Child Fatalities in Tennessee Report

No abstract provided.

December 5, 2025 Minutes, Swosu Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Russian Cyber Disinformation In Mexico And Spain, Isabella Lafranchise

Honors Theses

Disinformation campaigns are being spread throughout Mexico and Spain by Russia, and these campaigns are among the tools most used by a foreign country to manipulate societies, weaken democracies, and deepen divisions. This research seeks to answer the question: How does Russia use cyber tools to spread disinformation in Mexico and Spain? To address this question, the paper will examine government reports and academic research of recent Russian influence operations. Variables will include the types of cyber tools used, platforms used, the narratives/themes being promoted, audiences targeted, and the political or social outcomes observed. Data will be analyzed using a …

U-Glide Program Fall 2025, Unf Office Of Undergraduate Research, Unf Graduate School

Undergraduate – Graduate Learning, Inquiry, and Distinctive Experimentation (U-GLIDE) Symposium Programs

No abstract provided.

The Bison, December, 05, 2025

The Bison Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Capstone Reflection: Developing A Muslim Prayer App For Psu Students, Jeremiah Su

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the development process of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) App, a computer science capstone project. The app strives to help the Muslim community at Portland State University (PSU) and the Portland area by consolidating essential information for prayers, such as local prayer times, nearby masjids, and the direction of Qibla. The team behind this project was developed by 6 computer science developers, a majority of whom were from the Muslim culture and background. This paper describes the entire capstone development process from the perspective of a developer who is not rooted in Muslim customs. It also describes …

Outcomes After Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction And Repair In Nonthrowing Athletes, William L. Johns, Neel K. Patel, Benjamin Miltenberg, Ryan W. Paul, Adeeb J. Hanna, Michael C. Ciccotti, Steven B. Cohen, Michael G. Ciccotti, Christopher C. Dodson

Rothman Institute Papers

BACKGROUND: Surgical management of ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) tears in nonthrowing athletes is less commonly performed, and the outcomes of that management have not been thoroughly described.

PURPOSE: To describe the clinical outcomes of surgical management of UCL injury in nonthrowing athletes.

STUDY DESIGN: Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted on all patients who underwent UCL reconstruction or repair across a 10-year period (2010-2020), with nonthrowing athletes who had >2-year follow-up being specifically identified. Demographic variables such as age, sport participation, concomitant procedures, and graft type, as well as postoperative outcomes such as complications, …

Tapering Opioids In Older Adults With Chronic Pain, Carolyn D. Concia

Biennial Convention (CONV)

As the older adult population increases, so does the prevalence of conditions associated with chronic pain (Tinnirello et al., 2021). Chronic pain, defined as lasting longer than three months, affects approximately 20.8% (50.2 million) of adults (Nahin et al., 2023; Yong et al., 2022; Zelaya, 2020), of whom almost 20.5 million are age 65 and over (Rickard et al., 2023). Pain is the leading cause of disability, costing up to $635 billion annually (Turk et al., 2022; Institute of Medicine, 2011). Chronic pain in older adults causes significant suffering (Dahlhamer et al., 2016), social isolation (Tsang et al., 2008), increased …

Intimate Partner Violence And Adverse Birth Outcomes During Covid-19 Pandemic: A Prams Analysis, Doncy Joji Eapen, Krystin Matthews, Lydia Manikonda, Vyoma Soni, Courtney Byrd-Williams

Biennial Convention (CONV)

Background: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a serious public health problem that affects millions in the United States. Pregnancy-related violence is a risk factor for adverse maternal and pregnancy outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unique challenges for pregnant women. While a growing body of literature has examined the influence of the pandemic on IPV, a few studies have evaluated the effect on those who were pregnant during COVID-19, and its association with adverse birth outcomes. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of IPV during pregnancy before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and compare its association with adverse …

Mapping Phosphorylated Tau Using Multidimensional Mri In Alzheimer’S Disease, Hongyi Zhang, Caitlin S. Latimer, C. Dirk Keene, Dan Benjamini, Shinjini Kundu

Electrical and Systems Engineering Undergraduate Student Research

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that severely impairs memory and cognition, posing an increasing public health challenge worldwide. Current research suggests that AD is strongly linked to the abnormal accumulation of phosphorylated tau (pTau), a pathological hallmark reflecting neuronal dysfunction and neurodegeneration. Clinically, pTau is typically assessed via cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis or tau positron emission tomography (tau-PET). Although informative, CSF analysis is invasive, and tau-PET requires ionizing radiation. Furthermore, tau-PET is limited in routine clinical settings due to its high cost and radiation exposure. There remains an urgent need for a non-invasive, safe, and widely …

The Social Side Of Aging In Place: Community, Belonging, And Cultural Fit, Michael Crespo

University Honors Theses

Aging in place, or the capacity of older adults to remain in their homes and communities as they age has been a central tenet of the field of gerontology and the gerontological social policy area. Although access to physical facilities and service provision has been the main focus of traditional studies, contemporary experience demonstrates that social and cultural issues are equally important as determinants of the quality of life. This thesis discusses the influence of social networks, cultural congruence, and community belonging on the aging in place experience. The content of the study is based on the Ecological Model of …

A Study Of The Stratigraphic And Petrological Characteristics Of Section (10,323-10,325 Ft), Prevost 1- 11, Bay County, Michigan, Hajir Al Harthi

Honors Theses

This study presents a detailed petrological characterization of a short core section (10,323-10,325 ft) from the Prevost 1-11, Bay County, Michigan. This work is part of a broader carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) project to determine whether the Glenwood Formation could be an effective confining unit (CU) for carbon dioxide (CO2) injection in the underlying St. Peter Sandstone. The methods used to collect petrological data include standard core description, Xray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), thin section microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) including backscattered electron (BSE), energydispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and secondary electron (SE) modes. These …

Early Warning Detection Of Gravitational Waves With Sgnl, Megan Norris

Honors Theses

Gravitational waves (GWs) provide a whole new spectrum with which to observe astrophysical events. Multi-messenger observations including GWs are of particular interest, and these are best facilitated by early warning searches of GWs, which are typically aimed at detecting binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. This work provides an introductory overview of gravitational waves and summarizes the origins and basic physical properties of neutron stars and black holes in binary systems, focusing on BNS mergers and the detection of gravitational waves with LIGO using a modeled search. We assess the performance of a new GW search pipeline called SGNL to evaluate …

The Role Of Sustainability In Family And Consumer Science Curricula, Emily Hill

Honors Theses

As climate change intensifies and global food systems face growing environmental pressures, there is an increasing need to prepare younger generations to respond to these challenges. Sustainability education is increasingly recognized as essential for helping students understand the connection between human actions, environmental resilience, and their overall well-being. This form of education already has a foundation in the Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) curriculum. This study examines the effects of integrating sustainability lessons into secondary Family and Consumer Sciences food and nutrition courses in a rural Michigan high school. It was hypothesized that if students participate in sustainability presentations and …

Signal Processing Of Ecologically Significant Signals For Transient Bedload Characterization, Nathan R. Sjullie, Quinn B. Morgan, David Burnett

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

When rivers achieve a great enough flow rate, sediment along their riverbed becomes mobilized and transported downstream. This process is known as bedload transport. As bedload transport initiates, micro-collisions of various sediments and gravel generate underwater acoustic signals that can be detected by hydrophones. While there is extensive research on underwater acoustic theory and surrogate methods for monitoring bedload transport, there is a lack of heuristic work that analyzes collected bedload samples in conjunction with underwater acoustic recordings. The aim of this work is to complete an analysis on collected bedload samples and the simultaneous underwater acoustic recordings via signal …

Teaching With V.I.S.I.O.N.: A Qualitative Case Study, Abbrissola A. Shull

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This qualitative case study explored how those matriculating through a teacher education program can develop a critical consciousness of K-12 students experiencing homelessness or high mobility using the Teaching with V.I.S.I.O.N workshop model. This acronym stands for V: Value the culture and lived experiences of students reflected in the classroom, I: Implicit Bias Awareness, S: Study scenarios using the equity literacy case analysis approach (Gorski, 2018), I: Increase the diversity of texts provided in the classroom to reflect these experiences, O: On-going reflection regarding current practices and ways to improve using equity literacy (Gorski, 2018), …

The Anatomy Of Change: A Scoping Review Of Surgical Curriculum Renewal Processes, Marc A. Seifman, Robyn Woodward-Kron, Roi Y. Kagan, Kirsten Dalrymple, Aimee K. Gardner, Ian Incoll, Lars Konge, John T. Paige, Debra Nestel

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

PURPOSE: Renewal of surgical curricula is critical in maintaining relevance to contemporary healthcare needs. A curriculum document usually describes its purpose, intended outcomes, content, methods, and assessment and evaluation processes. The document may also consider cultural, professional, political, and social contexts. While there are published curriculum development approaches, guidance on renewal processes is limited. This scoping review aims to synthesise literature on surgical curriculum renewal, to understand the key elements of this process, and identify areas for improvement. METHODS: A scoping review was conducted by the core author team, with co-creation involving a Knowledge User Group (KUG). Seven databases were …

A Virtual Or In-Person Infrared Spectroscopy Laboratory Activity For The Analysis Of Fibers And Understanding Of Spectral Library Searches, Erika L. Doctor, Alanna L. Lecher

Faculty and Staff Publications & Presentations

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a rapid pivot of instruction in higher education from traditionally in-person modes to virtual modes with a need to maintain student learning outcomes, especially in laboratory courses. The next pandemic and other natural disasters cannot be predicted, and there are other reasons such as lack of resources that may inhibit courses from being implemented in-person. This paper provides a laboratory activity that can be completed in-person or with virtual instruction. This laboratory activity provides a novel approach to teaching students about fiber analysis using ATR-FTIR and elucidates the process of spectral analysis with databases. Students use …

Exploring The Impact Of Caring For Patients Diagnosed With Iv Drug Use Endocarditis At End Of Life, Kendrea Lea Todt

Biennial Convention (CONV)

Purpose/Problem Statement: Caring for patients with substance use disorder is a challenge for nurses, especially patients who use intravenous (IV) drugs and contract endocarditis. Infective endocarditis is a cardiac infection with a high mortality rate, and yet this disease receives little attention in the media or research. IVDU-IE has been referred to as the Cinderella of Cardiology. Nurses disposition young patients in the prime of their lives to hospice care, funeral homes, morgues, or home to die. The purpose of this modified photo elicitation phenomenological study was to explore the impact of caring for patients diagnosed with IVDU-IE at the …