Digital Commons Network^™

In This Issueoriginal Articlesystematic Reviewsscoping Review

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Breast Cancer Incidence After Hormonal Treatment For Infertility: A Meta-Analysis Of Population-Based Studies, Amal Y. Zaman, Lama S. Alrefai, Dorar F. Alharbi, Rahaf A. Khurmi, Leen M. Abuanq, Ajyal A. Aljohani, Ibrahim M. Dighriri, Nada Elnugomi

Saudi Medical Journal

ABSTRACT Objectives: To comprehensively understand the relationship between infertility medications and the risk of breast cancer (BC) in females. Methods: Relevant literature search using different databases (PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Sciences) following preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines was carried out from 2003-2023. Population-based studies comparing the incidence of BC after hormonal fertility treatment and a control group were included. In addition, random and fixed effect models were used to carry out meta-analyses. Results: A total of 15 studies involving 92,555 women were included in this review. The pooled analysis using risk …

Pocket-Creation Method Versus Conventional Method Of Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection For Early Gastric Cancer: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Min-Min Song, Feng-Bing Wang, Jian-Lin Yang, Hai-Yan Zhang, Tai-Ping Wang

Saudi Medical Journal

ABSTRACT Objectives: To compare the efficacy and safety between 2 endoscopic surgical approaches for early gastric cancer: pocket creation method of endoscopic submucosal dissection (PCM-ESD) and conventional ESD (CM-ESD). Methods: A comprehensive literature search was carried out in PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and the Cochrane Library from their inception to July 2024 using medical subject headings and free-text terms, which were “pocket-creation method”, “gastric cancer”, “gastric neoplasms”, and “endoscopic submucosal dissection” or “ESD”. Two independent reviewers carried out the search, screened studies, and extracted data. Results: A total of 578 cases were included in our study, which sourced from …

Clinical Studies On Anti-Obesity Medications In Arab Countries, Haifa F. Alotaibi, Shadan Almuhaidib, Saud Alshagrawi, Abdulmalik Almufarrih, Ola Alalmai, Sahar Alnaserallah, Najla Alodah, Saleh A. Alqahtani, Waleed Alhazzani

Saudi Medical Journal

ABSTRACT Objectives: To identify and summarize studies carried out in Arab countries on anti-obesity medications (AOMs), with a focus on the types of medications investigated, study designs, and the efficacy/effectiveness and safety metrics reported. Methods: We carried out a comprehensive scoping review of primary studies examining the use of AOMs in adult Arab populations. Five databases (Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, Index Medicus for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, and e-Marefa) were searched for English-language publications up to October 2024. Data extraction was carried out on study characteristics, participant demographics, interventions, and outcomes related to weight reduction, metabolic parameters, and side effects. …

The Risk Factors For Cardiovascular Disease And Chronic Kidney Disease In Patients With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease In Saudi Arabia, Walaa Mohammedsaeed, Abdullah Al Malki, Salma Alsayed

Saudi Medical Journal

ABSTRACT Objectives: To identify potential risk factors for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Saudi Arabian patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods: A 6-year prospective cohort study was carried out from January 2018 to January 2023, enrolling 1,500 patients. Data were initially collected between January 2018-2019, and follow-up assessments were carried out annually from 2020-2023. Patients were evaluated using biomarker analyses, and medical records were reviewed to assess the incidence of CVD and CKD. Biomarker levels, including blood creatinine, urine albumin, glomerular filtration rate (GFR), atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), and other key parameters, were …

Longitudinal Analysis Of Foodborne Disease Outbreaks In Saudi Arabia: Trends And Demographic Patterns (2017-2023), Hissah A. Alzahrani

Saudi Medical Journal

ABSTRACT Objectives: To explore the long-term patterns of foodborne disease outbreaks (FBDOs) in Saudi Arabia between 2017-2023 using longitudinal data analysis models. Methods: A 7-year longitudinal study was carried out on FBDO data from all 13 regions of Saudi Arabia. This study examined 5 outcomes: the number of FBDOs, FBDO cases, and FBDO cases classified by gender, nationality, and age groups. The analysis used generalized estimating equations and generalized linear mixed models based on a negative binomial distribution. Results: The findings revealed a significant decrease in FBDO counts and cases from 2017-2020, followed by an increase until 2023. Public sources …

Psychological Stress And Its Association With Bronchial Asthma In Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study, Alaa A. Bugis, Faisal A. Turkestani, Mohammed E. Ahmed, Mohammed M. Alqahtani, Abdullah K. Alnafisi, Bassam O. Alamri, Alhasan M. Algobayshi

Saudi Medical Journal

ABSTRACT Objectives: To investigate the psychological stress and its association with bronchial asthma in Saudi Arabia, focusing on the mechanisms by which stress affects asthma. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 733 adults with asthma aged ≥18 years and was carried out between October 2022 and May 2023 in Saudi Arabia. Data were obtained using an online questionnaire assessing asthma severity and stress levels. Results: Cronbach’s alpha indicated that the reliability of the stress scale was 0.728 and the reliability of the asthma control tool was 0.819. Of the participants, 52% were women and 48% were men, with 48.7% aged 18-26 …

Giving Voice To The Youngest Patients: Rethinking Pediatric Communication In Pharmacy Practice, Haifa F. Alotaibi

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Does Cancer Treatment Affect Connections In The Brain?

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Do Disasters Delay Early Cancer Diagnoses?

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Who Launches First-Ever Guidelines On Meningitis Diagnosis, Treatment And Care

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Development Of Aczel-Alsina Aggregation Operators In Neutrosophic Cubic Sets For Multi-Expert And Multi-Criteria Weighting: Optimizing Alternative Fuel Technology Selection, Majid Khan, Muhammad Gulistan, Aitazaz A. Farooque, Mohammed M. Al-Shamiri, Witold Pedrycz

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

Managing vague and uncertain data has long been a challenge in decision-making (DM), particularly in scenarios where criteria and expert assessments play a critical role. This paper introduces operational laws based on Aczel-Alsina (AA) norms within Neutrosophic Cubic Sets (NCS) to more effectively handle uncertainty. Leveraging these operational laws, we propose two aggregation operators: the Neutrosophic Cubic Aczel-Alsina Weighted Averaging (NCAAWA) and the Neutrosophic Cubic Aczel-Alsina Weighted Geometric (NCAAWG) operators. These provide a comprehensive approach to data aggregation, preserving both additive and multiplicative influences on outcomes in complex systems. In DM, the importance of weights is paramount, and we introduce …

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 9, Number 5, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton, Alejandro Sandoval-Murillo

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Essays On Institutions And Human Capital, Xiaofan Zhu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation investigates the critical role of political and culturally embedded institutions in shaping human capital investment and firm behavior, focusing on three distinct but related areas. Chapter 1 investigates how institutional quality influences educational choices in China, with a focus on behavioral responses to the anti-corruption campaign. The study finds that politically connected students from regions more a!ected by the campaign are significantly more likely to pursue further education – especially those with non-STEM majors, weaker academic performance, and stronger political ties. The analysis of underlying mechanisms suggests that as the employment environment became more equitable, connected individuals responded …

The Effects Of Income On Infant Health: Evidence From The Coal Boom And Bust, Chu Gek Chew

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

An individual’s health at birth is an important component in human capital accumulation, posing significant implications both in the short- and long-run. I investigate how infant health outcomes were impacted during a period of successive positive and negative economic shocks led by the coal industry between the 1970s to 1990s. Using exogenous variation within counties’ pre-existing coal reserves, I instrument for the changes in economic opportunities during the coal boom and bust. I find some limited evidence that an increase in income improves infant health outcomes. The incidence of low birthweight is decreasing in earnings growth, and effects are stronger …

Does Moving From One-Story Building To Multi-Building Affect The Health Status Of The Elderly: Evidence From China’S Par Program, Lu Cao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study investigates the causal impact of relocating from single-story to multistory buildings on the health outcomes of elderly residents in China. Using China’s Poverty Alleviation Relocation (PAR) program as an exogenous policy shock, we employ instrumental variable and difference-in-differences approaches to establish causality. Our analysis of data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011-2018) reveals a nuanced relationship between vertical living and elderly health. While relocation to multi-story buildings is associated with deterioration in self-reported physical health status, it significantly improves mental health conditions and life satisfaction among elderly movers. We identify two key mechanisms driving these …

Intraday Volatility In Financial Markets: Evidence From High-Frequency Data, Haolin Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In this study, we conduct an analysis of intraday spot volatility using high-frequency data from the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). We begin with the assumption that the intraday volatility of asset prices exhibits time-variation. To capture this dynamic behavior, we construct proxies for the unobserved spot volatility by applying appropriate estimators to the high-frequency price data. Following the estimation procedure, we employ various forecasting models to generate volatility forecasts. Finally, we evaluate and compare the predictive performance of these models using established forecast evaluation metrics, and analyze the results.

Determinants Of Trading Prices In State-Owned Asset And Equity Transactions: An Empirical Analysis From China, Lixiao Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This thesis examines the determinants of pricing outcomes in state-owned asset transactions using a comprehensive dataset of 3,638 transactions from a major transitional economy. Contrary to conventional expectations, we find that fixed assets consistently receive less favorable pricing compared to equity assets, with significantly lower odds of trading above professional valuation and higher odds of trading below valuation. This pattern persists across multiple specifications and remains robust to propensity score matching approaches that address selection concerns. I further demonstrate that state-owned buyers secure significant advantages in transaction pricing, with dramatically lower odds of paying premiums over valuation or listing prices …

Nature Of Smartphone Use: The Underlying Mechanisms Between Nature Exposure And Urge To Use Social Media, Jia Yi Aw

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The urge to use social media is prevalent and costly in modern society. However, little has been researched on how nature exposure can manage urge to use social media to combat its negative consequences. It was hypothesized that nature exposure through Instagram posts in Study 1 and nature park in Study 2 reduces urge to use social media. The underlying mechanisms were tested in a theory-driven serial mediation model, in which positive emotions, attention restoration and self-regulation served as serial mediators. Study 1 employed Instagram experimental manipulation in a laboratory setting by randomly assigning 206 undergraduates to view Instagram accounts …

Disentangling User Preferences Towards Self-Interpretable Recommender Systems, Nhu Thuat Tran

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Understanding user preferences remains a central challenge in recommender systems due to their inherently complex, unstructured, and multi-faceted nature, exacerbated by the sparsity of user interaction data. Traditional approaches often compress user interests into a single latent vector, overlooking the fact that user preferences are typically shaped by multiple underlying factors that differ across individuals. These latent drivers are not directly observable and must be discovered through unsupervised modeling, further complicated by limited historical interactions per user.

This dissertation addresses these challenges by introducing a principled framework for multiinterest modeling, which disentangles user behaviors into multiple latent factors to better …

Tailoring Transformer-Based Deep Learning For Code Generation And Translation, Imam Nur Bani Yusuf

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Software is increasingly pervasive in modern society, making the effective translation of human intent into code essential. Novice programmers often struggle with domain-specific code due to limited background knowledge, while experienced developers face challenges in maintaining evolving largescale codebases. Traditional pattern-based approaches address these issues, but such approaches are task-specific and require significant adaptation for different tasks. Transformer-based models offer a more flexible alternative, as the same architecture can be tailored for diverse programming tasks.

This dissertation investigates how Transformer-based models can be customized for various code generation and translation tasks. First, it introduces Transformer-based approaches that assist end-users with …

Empirical Program Evaluation In Operations Management, Kai Tian

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation focuses on advancing and applying empirical program evaluation methodologies in Operations Management (OM), defining it not as mere prediction but as rigorously establishing causal effects of interventions. Chapter 2 lays the theoretical groundwork, defining empirical program evaluation within OM, detailing its alignment with causal inference, and outlining both classical econometric techniques and emerging Causal Machine Learning (CML) approaches for mitigating endogeneity. Building on this foundation, Chapter 3 presents an empirical application, evaluating the causal impact of a customer targeting strategy using live-streaming advertisements, employing Propensity Score Matching (PSM) in conjunction with linear regression models to derive actionable insights …

Rewriting The Rules: Impact Of Covid-19 On Norms In Science, The International Order, And China, Jacob Kissling '25

Honor Scholar Theses

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed both strengths and vulnerabilities in global responses, many of which were shaped by underlying norms and behavioral expectations within key institutions. Understanding how these norms influenced decision-making, collaboration, and communication—and how they were themselves challenged or reshaped by the crisis—can provide valuable insights for improving future responses. While some norms adapted in response to the evolving crisis, others remained stagnant or were inconsistently enforced, contributing to fragmented and, at times, ineffective responses. This paper investigates the role of norms in three critical sectors: the scientific community, the international order, and China. Within the scientific community, norms …

Those Magnificent Men In Their Fighting Machines: An Investigation Into The Lives Of Wwi Tankmen, Lucas C. Campbell

Master's Theses

This thesis will look at the immense backlog of war diaries, journals, personal letters, government documentation, and oral histories left behind by British tank crewmen of the First World War. The purpose of this investigation is mainly to uncover the reasons that individuals were chosen for transferal into the Royal Tank Regiment, where they were transferred from, what their training consisted of before their deployment, and their combat history once they were sent into the battlefields on the Western Front. The goal of this project is to gauge the reaction to the emergence of this crucially important technology on a …

Empowering Narratives Or Marketing Strategy? Nigerian Audience Reactions To Femvertising In The “Joy Soap ‘My Life, My Script’ Campaign”, Oare Danielle Addeh

Master's Theses

Guided by Feminist Theory, this thesis examines how audience responses to Joy Soap’s ‘My Life, My Script’ campaign reflect, reinforce, or resist dominant gender norms in Nigerian society. Positioned as a form of femvertising, the campaign aims to challenge traditional expectations placed on women and promote narratives of empowerment. However, audience reactions reveal a complex negotiation of cultural values, personal experiences, and shifting gender ideologies.

This study uses Critical Discourse Analysis to examine purposively sampled comments from the campaign’s Instagram comment section, focusing on four selected episodes. The analysis identifies discursive patterns that reveal key themes, including the reinforcement and …

Doin' Time: Entertainment And Exploitation At Decommissioned Prison Museums In The United States, Jessi Robbins

Master's Theses

This thesis aims to explore how decommissioned prison museums in the US, such as Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary (BMSP), shape societal attitudes and understanding of the carceral system as a whole and the presence of systemic racism within by addressing three questions: (1) What histories do prison museums tell, and which are erased?, (2) How do objects displayed in prison museums reflect past and present racial attitudes toward the incarcerated?, and (3) Does visiting or working at a prison museum affect individual attitudes regarding the US carceral system? Grounded in James Scott’s (1992) concept of “hidden transcripts” and Michel Foucault’s …

Measles, Children's Mercy Kansas City

Clinical Pathways

No abstract provided.

Making Tabby, Making Place: Examining A Gullah Geechee Wattle And Tabby Daub Dwelling Through Thin Section Analysis, Jacob E. Hamill

Graduate Masters Theses

Tabby is a building material made from lime, sand, oyster shell, and water that is geographically associated with the Sea Islands of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This material was used from the early 18^th century to end of the American Civil War to construct all-manner of buildings in the Sea Islands region. Enslaved African descendant communities constructed wattle and tabby daub dwellings within plantation landscapes, and these settlements are interpreted as spaces where enslaved people exercised greater spatial autonomy.

This thesis analyzes the remains of a wattle and tabby daub structure located on what was once Old Fort …

A Worker-Centered Study Exploring Trust, Dependency, And Worker Identity In Digital Platform-Mediated Labor, Wael Altali

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Digital gig platforms have transformed labor markets globally. This dissertation critically examines the intersections of platform design and worker experiences through four interrelated studies. The research identifies how differences between on-demand and cloud work platforms shape identity, trust, and autonomy.

Drawing on Cultural Domain Analysis, the first study proposes a practical classification system for digital gig platforms. Experts categorize platforms as on-demand or cloud work, avoiding theoretical subtypes like skill level. This framework supports targeted analyses of platform design and regulatory implications.

The second and third studies examine the paradoxes of worker identity in platform-mediated environments. A survey of 268 …

“From The Synagogue To The Streets”: Outsider Rabbis, Mississippi, And The Civil Rights Movement, Holli Elaine Parker

Master's Theses

The historiography of Jews in the Civil Rights Movement is extensive, and recent scholarship has reevaluated the relationships between Jews and civil rights organizations. The role of southern Jews in critical states, such as Mississippi, is often amalgamated into one category: supportive but scared. The focus on two rabbis known for their outspokenness regarding racial equality, Charles Mantinband of Hattiesburg and Perry Nussbaum of Jackson, is central to most southern Jewish studies. However, it neglects aspects of their background. Neither rabbi was a native Mississippian nor accepted as truly Southern due to the stances they took regarding racial equality. Charles …