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Extended Survival With Pancreatic Carcinosarcoma: A Case Report And Literature Review, Tian Xiao, Claire Browne, Morgan Black, Celia Marginean, Elena Tsvetkova Aug 2025

Extended Survival With Pancreatic Carcinosarcoma: A Case Report And Literature Review, Tian Xiao, Claire Browne, Morgan Black, Celia Marginean, Elena Tsvetkova

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Pancreatic carcinosarcoma is a rare and aggressive malignancy that can mimic pancreatic adenocarcinomas in presentation but often has different disease biology and different responses to conventional treatment for pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Case reports have documented a 5-year overall survival of approximately 13% only if the disease is caught at an earlier stage and is amenable to multi-modality treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. In the advanced stage, treatments do not often provide benefit, and patients may decline rapidly. There are currently no studies demonstrating survival benefits with chemotherapy in patients with metastatic carcinosarcoma, owing to both the rarity and the often …


Class A Biosolids Production Using Conventional And Low-Cost, Low-Tech Processes At Small Water Resource Recovery Facilities: A Multidimensional Sustainability Assessment, Janna Brown, Robert Handler, Eric Seagren, Jennifer Becker Aug 2025

Class A Biosolids Production Using Conventional And Low-Cost, Low-Tech Processes At Small Water Resource Recovery Facilities: A Multidimensional Sustainability Assessment, Janna Brown, Robert Handler, Eric Seagren, Jennifer Becker

Michigan Tech Publications

Producing Class A biosolids is a beneficial way to reuse wastewater treatment solids, but most conventional processes are energy-intensive and expensive. There is growing interest in the use of low-cost, low-tech (LCLT) Class A biosolids treatment processes, especially at small water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs). This study used a holistic sustainability assessment to examine the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of conventional and LCLT processes at small WRRFs. The technologies studied were Direct Heat Drying, Composting, Lagoon Storage, Air Drying, and Temperature-Phased Anaerobic Digestion (TPAD). Environmental impacts were determined by conducting life-cycle assessments for all technologies, which is described in …


Mitigating Ultrasonic Attack On Drones Using Meta-Material Acoustic Resonators, Corey Thomas Churgin Aug 2025

Mitigating Ultrasonic Attack On Drones Using Meta-Material Acoustic Resonators, Corey Thomas Churgin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to reproduce ultrasonic attacks on consumer drone gyroscopes and mitigate the attacks using specifically designed meta-material acoustic resonators. Drones use a Micro Electrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Gyroscope for collecting flight data, due to the mechanical nature of these gyroscopes they are susceptible to being resonated at specific frequencies. For these MEMS gyroscopes the majority have a resonance frequency in the ultrasonic range, making attack imperceptible by humans. (1) A Laser Doppler Vibrometer was used to accurately measure the frequency which affects the drone’s gyroscope. (2) To mitigate the effects of the attacks acoustic resonators …


Registered Nurses' Autism Knowledge And Preparedness To Care For Autistic Patients, Bronte Elisa Weissman Aug 2025

Registered Nurses' Autism Knowledge And Preparedness To Care For Autistic Patients, Bronte Elisa Weissman

Theses and Dissertations

Autistic individuals frequently report negative experiences during healthcare interactions and numerous provider-level barriers to accessing quality care, including stereotyping, perceived lack of autism knowledge, challenges with communication, and insufficient accommodations. Reports of healthcare providers’ experiences caring for autistic patients in the U.S. have largely come from physicians, who endorse inadequate training, resources, and practical guidelines. Although patients spend far more time with nurses than other healthcare providers, registered nurses (RNs)’ perspectives on caring for autistic patients in the U.S. are largely unknown and autism-focused trainings for nurses are minimal. In the current study, a survey was nationally disseminated to a …


Palpation Characteristics Of An Instrumented Virtual Cricothyroidotomy Simulator, Melih Turkseven, Trudi Di Qi, Ganesh Sankaranarayanan, Suvranu De Aug 2025

Palpation Characteristics Of An Instrumented Virtual Cricothyroidotomy Simulator, Melih Turkseven, Trudi Di Qi, Ganesh Sankaranarayanan, Suvranu De

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Cricothyroidotomy (CCT) is a critical, life-saving procedure requiring the identification of key neck landmarks through palpation. Interactive virtual simulation offers a promising, cost-effective approach to CCT training with high visual realism. However, developing the palpation skills necessary for CCT requires a haptic interface with tactile sensitivity comparable to human fingers. Such interfaces are often represented by plastic partial mannequins, which require further adaptation to integrate into virtual environments. This study introduces an instrumented physical palpation interface for CCT, integrated into a virtual surgical simulator, and tested on 10 surgeons who practiced the procedure over a training period. Data on haptic …


08.18.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson Aug 2025

08.18.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson

ORED Newsletter

ORED on-demand training, Tableau training, Research Reception 2025


Dominant Tree Species As A Driver Of Forest Herb Community Assembly: The Peculiar Case Of Pawpaw (Asimina Triloba), Anna Wassel Aug 2025

Dominant Tree Species As A Driver Of Forest Herb Community Assembly: The Peculiar Case Of Pawpaw (Asimina Triloba), Anna Wassel

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the drivers of community assembly is a key goal in ecology and conservation. One way to better understand community assembly is to understand how the presence or absence of dominant species– highly abundant species with a proportionally large effect on the ecosystem–affects assembly. This approach allows for a more generalized understanding of community assembly based on the presence or abundance of one species rather than pairwise interactions among all species in a community. In forests, studies on dominant tree species have focused on how they affect patterns of species diversity. In contrast, surprisingly little is known about how dominant …


The Professional And Occupational Identities Of Nicu Occupational Therapists, Lindsay M. Marquardt, Karen Park Aug 2025

The Professional And Occupational Identities Of Nicu Occupational Therapists, Lindsay M. Marquardt, Karen Park

Summer 2025 OTD Capstone Symposium

Occupational therapists in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) provide specialized care, including infant positioning, feeding, handling techniques, and anticipatory guidance. While the American Occupational Therapy Association has outlined the role, little research has explored how therapists perceive their own occupational and professional identities in this highly specialized setting. This study explored the perspectives of NICU occupational therapists to better understand how their roles and identities are shaped within the NICU environment. A mixed-methods descriptive design was used. Data was collected through an electronic survey including Likert-scale and open-ended questions, with optional 30-minute follow-up interviews. Snowball and convenience sampling were …


Modeling Lensed Quasars With Neural Posterior Estimation: Complex Mass Models, Logan C. O’Brien Aug 2025

Modeling Lensed Quasars With Neural Posterior Estimation: Complex Mass Models, Logan C. O’Brien

Master's Theses

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is expected to discover ∼ 103 galaxy-scale strongly lensed AGN systems during its 10 year operation conducting the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). I use a machine learning neural posterior estimation method to automatically model these systems with the intention of using them for time-delay cosmography, to constrain the Hubble constant and, ultimately, the properties of Dark Energy. In the work shown here, the neural network that I utilize is trained on simulated lens systems with simple mass distributions that consist of a single main deflecting galaxy. I am testing the robustness of …


A Content Analysis Of Podcasts Exploring The Experiences Of Nba Players And Mental Health, Joanna D. Hedin Aug 2025

A Content Analysis Of Podcasts Exploring The Experiences Of Nba Players And Mental Health, Joanna D. Hedin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black male athletes are at a greater risk of not seeking treatment for their mental health issues due to cultural stigmas and expectations. The purpose of this qualitative secondary data research study was to understand the experiences of Black NBA players regarding their mental health and the sociocultural factors that influence their decision making regarding participation in mental health services, as revealed through podcast appearances. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory was applied in this study to suggest that learning is an integral part of the social process and that culture contributes to how and what one learns. This study asked about what …


Cationic Liposome Nanoparticles For Drug Delivery To The Inner Ear, Firas Al-Ashker Aug 2025

Cationic Liposome Nanoparticles For Drug Delivery To The Inner Ear, Firas Al-Ashker

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Cisplatin is a widely used chemotherapy drug associated with a high incidence of hearing loss, particularly in younger patients. This ototoxicity is linked to the drug’s long-term accumulation in the cochlea, where it can persist for years following treatment. Current clinical interventions, such as sodium thiosulfate (STS), offer partial protection against hearing loss but are limited by poor drug penetration into the inner ear. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a targeted drug delivery platform capable of overcoming anatomical and physiological barriers to reach the cochlea more effectively. Specifically, we aimed to design cationic liposome nanoparticles …


Advancing Autonomous Swarm Behavior In A Simulated Anti-Access Area Denial Environment, Chad Macwilkinson, Lance E. Champagne, Phillip M. Lacasse Aug 2025

Advancing Autonomous Swarm Behavior In A Simulated Anti-Access Area Denial Environment, Chad Macwilkinson, Lance E. Champagne, Phillip M. Lacasse

Faculty Publications

This study proposes the application of a four dimensional framework of autonomy to a weapon swarm of high subsonic cruise missiles.


The Current - Volume 36 Issue 1, Nova Southeastern University Aug 2025

The Current - Volume 36 Issue 1, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.


Insights Regarding The Role Of Administrative Support And Teacher Retention In A Suburban Arizona School District, Kristen Louise Tiffany Aug 2025

Insights Regarding The Role Of Administrative Support And Teacher Retention In A Suburban Arizona School District, Kristen Louise Tiffany

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem that was addressed through this study is that teachers are leaving the profession in an Arizona high school district (AHSD, a pseudonym), which might be due to a lack of administrator support. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore teachers’ perceptions of reasons they chose to remain in their positions as well as administrators’ perceptions on the support they provide to encourage teacher retention at AHSD. Grounded in Bandura’s social cognitive theory, semistructured interviews were conducted with six administrators and 10 teachers from AHSD. Saldana’s pattern coding was used with the following themes emerging: Teachers …


Understanding Loss To Follow-Up: The Role Of Social Determinants Of Health In Infants Referred After A Positive Newborn Screening – A Quantitative Analysis, Betsy Graham-Moeller Graham-Moeller Aug 2025

Understanding Loss To Follow-Up: The Role Of Social Determinants Of Health In Infants Referred After A Positive Newborn Screening – A Quantitative Analysis, Betsy Graham-Moeller Graham-Moeller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Newborn screening (NBS) is a vital U.S. public health initiative that identifies medical conditions shortly after birth. Patients with positive screenings are referred for medical follow-up or evaluation. However, many patients do not receive the recommended long-term follow-up, posing concerns for healthcare providers and public health professionals working to ensure timely treatment and care continuity. Based on the Social Determinants of Health framework, this quantitative, retrospective cohort study aimed to examine demographic and clinical factors associated with follow-up adherence among 691 infants identified through NBS in Colorado and Wyoming. The purpose of the study was to determine whether race, ethnicity, …


Relationship Between Perioperative Nurses’ Perception Of Empowerment Versus Burnout And Intent To Leave In A Level 1 Hospital On The East Coast, Kelly D. Sambrano Aug 2025

Relationship Between Perioperative Nurses’ Perception Of Empowerment Versus Burnout And Intent To Leave In A Level 1 Hospital On The East Coast, Kelly D. Sambrano

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Retaining perioperative nurses is vital for maintaining high-quality care, operational efficiency, and financial stability in healthcare settings. These nurses are integral to surgical care and require significant training and resources, making their retention a strategic priority. This quantitative study, grounded in Kanter’s theory of structural empowerment, used secondary data to explore two main questions: (a) Which demographic factors—such as age, experience, training, certification, and loyalty predict empowerment, burnout, and intent to leave? and (b) How do empowerment and job satisfaction influence the intent to stay? With nearly 20% of the perioperative workforce expected to retire within five years, identifying retention …


Predicting Utilization Of Mental Health Services Among Undergraduate Nursing Students On College Campuses In The Mississippi Delta, Deidra Michelle Byas Aug 2025

Predicting Utilization Of Mental Health Services Among Undergraduate Nursing Students On College Campuses In The Mississippi Delta, Deidra Michelle Byas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over recent years, concerns about the mental health of nursing students in the Mississippi Delta have increased. However, research indicated that many nursing students do not utilize mental health services. This population has received little research attention, creating a gap in the literature and leaving counselor educators and supervisors ill-equipped to prepare counselors to meet the needs of nursing students. This quantitative study examined whether attitudes toward mental health services, social and cultural stigmas, and demographic characteristics explained the variance in nursing students’ willingness to seek help. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, the study focused on three areas: …


Enhancing Social Determinants Of Health Education In Home Health Care Including Social Determinants Of Health In Assessments And Care Plans For Home Health Clinicians, Emilia Mbanwite Aug 2025

Enhancing Social Determinants Of Health Education In Home Health Care Including Social Determinants Of Health In Assessments And Care Plans For Home Health Clinicians, Emilia Mbanwite

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This staff education-focused doctor of nursing practice (DNP) project addressed the critical practice problem of one southern health care facility staff’s knowledge on the integration of social determinants of health (SDOH) into home health care plans. Despite SDOH screening, clinicians lacked standardized training to effectively assess and intervene on factors such as housing, transportation, and food insecurity, contributing to preventable hospitalizations, particularly in vulnerable populations. The practice-focused question addressed whether an evidence-based education module could improve home health nurses’ knowledge and application of SDOH in assessments and care plans. The project’s purpose was to develop, implement, and evaluate this training …


Reconciling Harm Reduction Philosophy And Approaches Among Abstinence-Only Substance Abuse Treatment Professionals, Amy Rose Ashton-Williams Aug 2025

Reconciling Harm Reduction Philosophy And Approaches Among Abstinence-Only Substance Abuse Treatment Professionals, Amy Rose Ashton-Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Historically, substance use disorder (SUD) treatment in the United States has been firmly grounded in abstinence-only treatment approaches. Harm reduction as a treatment model has gained additional traction. With increased rates of opioid use, overdoses, and advancements in medications for SUDs, harm reduction treatment approaches are becoming more important to improve lives of people who use drugs. Little is known about how counselors who have been educated, trained, and deliver abstinence-based SUD treatment reconcile use of harm reduction into their practice. To address this gap in literature, a generic qualitative study was conducted using the social constructivism theory. A purposive …


Development Of Turbulence Models For Prediction Of Hypersonic Flows Using Compressibility Corrections And Uncertainty Quantification With Emphasis On The Wray-Agarwal Model, Aidan Robert Murphy Aug 2025

Development Of Turbulence Models For Prediction Of Hypersonic Flows Using Compressibility Corrections And Uncertainty Quantification With Emphasis On The Wray-Agarwal Model, Aidan Robert Murphy

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Accurate prediction of high-speed compressible turbulent flows remains one of the most significant challenges in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), especially in the realm of hypersonic vehicle design. These flow regimes involve significant aerodynamic heating and shock-wave boundary layer interactions (SBLI) which remain a significant challenge for the current CFD prediction capabilities. While Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) and Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) provide high-fidelity solutions, their computational demands limit their usability, making the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations an efficient alternative for many industrial aerodynamic applications. Traditional RANS techniques, while computationally efficient, often provide limited accuracy in high-speed flows due to the presence …


A Novel P–N Junction Uio-66/Agins2 For Photodegradation Of Enrofloxacin Under Visible Light, Sajedeh Sadat Hashemipoor, Reza Fazaeli, Hamid Reza Moghadam Zadeh, Mehdi Arjomand Aug 2025

A Novel P–N Junction Uio-66/Agins2 For Photodegradation Of Enrofloxacin Under Visible Light, Sajedeh Sadat Hashemipoor, Reza Fazaeli, Hamid Reza Moghadam Zadeh, Mehdi Arjomand

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

The formation of a heterogeneous junction between photocatalysts may be a potential solution for removing medicinal compounds from wastewater, which is crucial due to the environmental and health risks. The present study aims to investigate the efficacy of UiO-66/AgInS2 p–n junction photocatalyst—a Zr-based metal-organic framework—in degradation of enrofloxacin (ENR) antibiotic using visible light. UiO-66, AgInS2 (AIS), and UiO-66/AIS semiconductors were characterized using various techniques. The comparative analysis of particle structural parameters utilized diverse methodologies, and response surface methodology (RSM) was applied for the optimization of ENR degradation. The degradation kinetics of ENR were investigated. We identified UiO-66/AIS as a p–n …


Ski Resort Cybersecurity, Nathan Clark Aug 2025

Ski Resort Cybersecurity, Nathan Clark

All Student Scholarship

By comparing ski resorts to other industries, such as beach resorts, infrastructure, and live events, this study aims to establish a foundation of understanding for ski hills. Through an analysis of data collected from state-level data breach lists and corporate filings required by the SEC, the study utilizes this broader scope to identify the primary cyber concerns facing the ski industry. The study aims to identify the unique cybersecurity challenges faced by ski resorts and compare them in terms of security concerns with those in large-scale events and the tourism industry.


Combining Code Analysis And Pedagogical Guidance: Automated Tools For Teaching Debugging In Introductory Programming, Yana Malysheva Aug 2025

Combining Code Analysis And Pedagogical Guidance: Automated Tools For Teaching Debugging In Introductory Programming, Yana Malysheva

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The ability to debug code is critical to being a programmer and represents a distinct skill from writing code. Yet debugging is rarely explicitly taught in introductory programming and Computer Science courses. Instead, novices typically develop their own debugging habits and strategies when they encounter bugs in their code, which are often less effective than those of expert programmers. When students do seek help with debugging, they traditionally turn to office hours conducted by Teaching Assistants (TAs) or, increasingly, to Large Language Models such as ChatGPT. However, both sources of assistance have limitations. TAs are often students themselves with limited …


Code Stories For Software Evolution, John Joseph Allen Aug 2025

Code Stories For Software Evolution, John Joseph Allen

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Programmers spend more than half of their time comprehending code, and in particular struggle to answer questions about the rationale, intent, and history behind software artifacts. Through this dissertation, I explore how history-aware tools can help programmers understand unfamiliar software artifacts. First, I investigated how providing additional context -- historical code changes grouped by the original developer's stated subgoals and the web foraging activity of the original developer impacted the process of code reuse. I found that programmers utilized these resources to 1) make better analogies between their reuse scenario and what code was already written, and 2) anchor into …


Multi-Layer Support For Component-Based Cyber-Physical Systems Applications, Oren Bell Aug 2025

Multi-Layer Support For Component-Based Cyber-Physical Systems Applications, Oren Bell

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Component-based design is a paradigm meant to aid in development of software applications by modularizing different functionalities of a system. This building-block approach is used extensively in cyber–physical and robotic systems. Common and established solutions to specific problems, such as perception nodes, state estimators, and motion planners, can be developed, verified, and reused as off-the-shelf modules. These modules may be integrated atop today’s heterogeneous hardware platforms, where an application can be distributed across GPUs, FPGAs, and CPU cores. When heterogeneous computational devices share the workload of a collection of components, the very act of integration may inject timing uncertainty. For …


Applying Machine Learning To Developmental Psychopathology, Robert Jesus Jirsaraie Aug 2025

Applying Machine Learning To Developmental Psychopathology, Robert Jesus Jirsaraie

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Psychopathology arises from a combination of many contributing factors, which can include genetic predispositions, family history, environmental stressors, developmental processes, and psychosocial dynamics. Each of these contributing factors has been researched for decades, and their influences on mental health have been well documented. In recent years, there has been a growing enthusiasm for integrating these risk factors using machine learning. However, there are a wide array of data-driven frameworks that have been implemented, and the relative strengthens of each approach is not clear. Through of series of four research studies, we examined each data-driven approach in terms of its potential …


Harnessing Metabolic Modeling And Artificial Intelligence For Next-Generation Bioproduction, Zhengyang Xiao Aug 2025

Harnessing Metabolic Modeling And Artificial Intelligence For Next-Generation Bioproduction, Zhengyang Xiao

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Bioproduction in microbial hosts faces two main challenges: (1) unique metabolism of each species is difficult to generalize, and it requires precise quantification before metabolic engineering. (2) Past experiment data are fragmented in different studies, making it difficult to combine these non-standardized data for future experiment design. These challenges lead to high costs and risks in scaling up biomanufacturing processes, where R&D requires substantial budgets and iterative experiments are expensive. This thesis addresses both challenges through two research pillars. Part I uses 13C metabolic flux analysis (MFA) and genome-scale model (GSM) to investigate metabolic limitations in bioproduction hosts. In Escherichia …


Moment Ensemble Approaches For Estimation And Robust Quantum Control, Andre Luiz Paes De Lima Aug 2025

Moment Ensemble Approaches For Estimation And Robust Quantum Control, Andre Luiz Paes De Lima

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Large-scale population dynamics governed by ensemble systems present significant challenges due to their inherently high dimensionality. Recent advances have demonstrated the effectiveness of moment-based methods (particularly those employing polynomial bases such as Legendre and Chebyshev polynomials) when integrated with optimization techniques for control design in ensemble systems. However, these methods have not been extensively explored for enhancing robustness against systematic noise, nor have they been widely applied to complex quantum systems involving multi-parameter configurations and entanglement phenomena. In this work, we extend the application of moment methods in ensemble systems through two projects. Initially by developing a Kalman filter analogue, …


Towards Graph Foundation Models: Few-Shot And Zero-Shot Learning On Graphs, Hao Liu Aug 2025

Towards Graph Foundation Models: Few-Shot And Zero-Shot Learning On Graphs, Hao Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Graphs naturally model complex relationships and interactions across various domains, including social networks, biological systems, and recommender platforms. Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have emerged as powerful tools for learning effective graph representations through iterative message passing, significantly improving performance in tasks such as node classification, link prediction, and graph classification. However, the success of GNNs largely depends on abundant labeled data, posing challenges in practical scenarios where labeled data is scarce or unavailable. This dissertation addresses these challenges by exploring few-shot and zero-shot learning within the graph domain. We first propose COLA, a self-supervised few-shot node classification method that exploits …


Spatial Patterns In Electronic Health Record Data-Based Predictive Modeling: A Case Study Of Prenatal Care And Preeclampsia, Abigail Lewis Aug 2025

Spatial Patterns In Electronic Health Record Data-Based Predictive Modeling: A Case Study Of Prenatal Care And Preeclampsia, Abigail Lewis

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The electronic health record (EHR) documents interactions between patients and healthcare systems and is widely used for secondary research on health outcomes due to broad adoption. While EHR data support efficient clinical informatics research, they are subject to biases stemming from healthcare seeking behavior, health system attributes, and individual or environmental characteristics. Place-based characteristics, in particular, strongly influence when and how patients access care and shape health outcomes. These biases in EHR data can affect predictive modeling pipelines which leverage them, contributing to variation in model performance across groups. In healthcare, where predictive models are increasingly used to guide care, …