Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Associations Between Young Adults' Autistic Traits And Parental Differential Treatment, Madelyn Winder Bennett

Theses and Dissertations

The current study sought to identify autistic traits that may elicit parental differential treatment (PDT). Understanding these links are important because numerous studies have shown PDT to have negative implications for healthy development. Participants (recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk) completed a survey assessing their experiences of parental differential treatment and their own autistic traits using the Autism Quotient (AQ) measure (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001). Participants were young adults ages 18-29 (M age = 25.4; 57% Female, 43% Male; 73% White, n = 739) who resided in the U.S. and had at least one living sibling. Using regression analysis, we examined …

Influence Of The Duchesne Fault Zone On Oil Production In The Uinta Basin, Utah, Alan Matthew Ketring

Theses and Dissertations

The Duchesne Fault Zone (DFZ) is a series of east-west trending en echelon faults that developed synchronously above the neutral surface of the Duchesne Anticline during the Laramide Orogeny. The Duchesne Graben (DG) formed by decrease in displacement downward toward the neutral surface. Lake Canyon, a region that exposes the subsurface geology on the western portion of the DFZ, serves as an analog for fold formation within the saline facies of the lower Green River Formation, while Indian Canyon, an area created from the dip-slip faulting of the DG, provides clear exposures of the faulting within the sandstone-limestone facies of …

2025-04-23 Handbook “Does Not Apply” To Academic Program Cuts, Provost’S Office Says, Daniel Truog

The Spectator Online

No abstract provided.

The Economic Factors Of Suicide, Hogan C. Fox

Honors College Theses

This study examines how macroeconomic indicators influence state‐level suicide rates in the United States and, critically, how those effects differ by gender. Drawing on annual data from all fifty states over 2010–2020, I merge age‐adjusted suicide rates from CDC WONDER with five key economic indicator: real hourly compensation, labor productivity, employment rate, median income, and logged state GD, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. After comparing pooled OLS, random‐effects, first‐difference, and two‐way fixed‐effects specifications, I adopt a two-way, state‐and‐year fixed‐effects model for its superior fit and capacity to control for unobserved heterogeneity. …

Use Of Procalcitonin In Therapeutic Decisions In The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Pierre Tissières, Elisabeth Esteban Torné, Johannes Hübner, Adrienne Randolph, Corsino Rey Galán, Scott Weiss

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

Procalcitonin (PCT) is frequently used by clinicians in children with suspected bacterial infections and sepsis. However interpretation in the critically ill child may be challenging due to the complexity of underlying conditions and its impact on PCT values. Herein, we propose a guidance for the use of procalcitonin in critically ill children, supported by a comprehensive analysis of the literature, to help the clinician for interpreting PCT in the various clinical conditions encountered in pediatric intensive care units. We describe the importance of the clinical context, timing of measurement and evidence on PCT values in diagnosing sepsis and to guide …

Inhibition Of Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Confers Neuroprotection And Restores Microglial Homeostasis In A Tauopathy Mouse Model, Shuo Wang, Chuangye Qi, Chetan Rajpurohit, Baijayanti Ghosh, Wen Xiong, Baiping Wang, Yanyan Qi, Sung Hee Hwang, Bruce D Hammock, Hongjie Li, Li Gan, Hui Zheng

Center on Aging Staff Publications

Background: The epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) are derivatives of the arachidonic acid metabolism with anti-inflammatory activities. However, their efficacy is limited due to the rapid hydrolysis by soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH). Inhibition of sEH has been shown to stabilize the EETs and reduce neuroinflammation in Aβ mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the role of the sEH-EET signaling pathway in other CNS cell types and neurodegenerative conditions are less understood.

Methods: Here we investigated the mechanisms and functional role of the sEH-EET axis in tauopathy by treating PS19 mice with a small molecule sEH inhibitor TPPU and by crossing the …

University Philharmonic Orchestra & Mixed Chamber Ensembles

Bailey School of Music Concert Programs

Nancy Conley, Conductor

From Collections To Community-Changing The Educational Landscape To Serve The People: Case Studies Of Adult Education In Urban Art Museums, Ruth Houston Lockard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Drawing on constructivism, this multiple case study examined the museum’s role in society as a place for learning. The purpose of the study was to describe how these museums provide constructivist educational programming that connects museum collections to the communities where they are located and promotes social justice by creating a gathering place for people to discuss contemporary issues. The research question directing this study is “how do the National Gallery of Art and the National Civil Right Museum’s adult education programs connect with the communities where they are located and promote social justice?” This multiple case study analyzed learning …

From Global Trends To Patient-Level Data: Helping Adolescents With Sickle Cell Disease Become Adults, Kelly Pimenta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited hemoglobinopathy that remains a major contributor to global morbidity and mortality. While advances in neonatal screening, therapeutic interventions, and supportive care have significantly improved survival rates, individuals with SCD continue to experience challenges, particularly during pediatric to adult healthcare. Health care transition (HCT) represents a critical period associated with increased healthcare utilizations and a heightened risk of mortality. Although structured transition programs have been implemented in high-income countries (HICs), transition readiness remains largely unaddressed in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including Brazil. The dissertation aims to assess the burden of SCD, identify the …

Assessment In Conversational Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Investigating The Incremental Value Of Dialogue Moves In Electronixtutor, Colin M. Carmon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

In conversation-based intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), the student is asked challenging questions and there is a multiturn conversation between the computer tutor and the student in constructing an answer to the question. The initial student response after the question provides some information on what the student knows, whereas follow-up contributions of the student presumably extract more of what the student knows. This dissertation investigates the incremental value of follow-up dialogue moves in a conversation-based ITS, specifically ElectronixTutor, a prototype system that has been used in U.S. Navy electronics training. The research addresses two key questions: (1) What is the added …

April 23, 2025, Faculty, Illinois Wesleyan University

2024-2025

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Harry Denny

The Writing Center Journal

Front matter and editors' introduction to The Writing Center Journal 43:1 (2025).

Writing Confidence: Tutoring, Identity, And Race—A Mixed-Methods Approach, Daniel Messier, Hadi Riad Banat

The Writing Center Journal

This mixed-methods study sought to better understand how confidence in writing and race interact as factors within writing centers. Students utilizing our writing center were asked to provide data about racial identity and writing confidence both when registering with the writing center and when completing postsession surveys. From this data, we interviewed a racially representative pool of respondents to better understand their definitions of confidence and the identity factors that have shaped their confidence in writing. Our survey data showed that students’ confidence increased significantly as a result of a writing center session, replicating previous writing center research. Furthermore, we …

Somewhere In The Middle: Assistant Directors’ Leadership, Labor, And Power In Writing Centers, Keri L. Carter, John L. Carter

The Writing Center Journal

The position of writing center assistant director resides in the middle of the often blurry lines of hierarchy. While many writing centers advocate for team leadership, the fact remains that universities are steeped in bureaucratic tradition familiar to university leaders, students, and tutors. Assistant directors accomplish tasks that keep the day-to- day center functioning, yet these tasks equate to sometimes invisible work in the center and often invisible work in the university as a whole. Furthermore, research on assistant directors’ roles, labor, and identities is exceedingly limited. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study is to understand how hierarchies …

English Writing Centers In China: Opportunities, Challenges, And Paths Forward, Bradley Hughes, Jingtian Zhang

The Writing Center Journal

English writing centers at Chinese universities present a fascinating paradox. On one hand, the number of universities with writing centers and the professional interest in writing centers in China have grown steadily over the past two decades. But on the other, the number of centers is still modest and only a few centers have had a significant influence on the culture of writing on their campuses, which is surprising given the vast number of universities in China and the documented need for strengthening and expanding writing instruction in English. This international research study explores the current state of English writing …

We Should Promote Genai Writing Tools For Linguistic Equity, Nathan Lindberg

The Writing Center Journal

In this essay, I suggest that we should embrace generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) writing tools, particularly chatbots (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude), because they can enable linguistic equity by leveling the academic playing field for English as an additional language students. As writing experts, we can find ways to use this technology to enhance learning, and, since we know both student and faculty positions, we can help develop policies so such tools can be used effectively and ethically. Alternatively, we can ignore them and risk becoming irrelevant.

Acoustic Sensing With Phased Arrays Using Beamforming And Principal Component Analysis, Kevin Mckenzie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The work presented in this thesis explores the key design parameters of microphone sensing systems for beamforming, specifically for a stationary uniform rectangular array (URA) and a drone mounted uniform line array (ULA). It explains the development of a custom audio recorder using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) with Hard Processor System (HPS), using a unique distribution of Linux called NixOS. It details experiments conducted to characterize these systems in controlled environments like a wind tunnel and an anechoic chamber, as well as in the field for real-world testing. It also investigates methods for the autonomous detection of sound …

Brief Of Amici Curiae 775 Law Professors In Support Of Plaintiff's Motion For Summary Judgment And Declaratory And Permanent Injunctive Relief, Wilfred U. Codrington Iii, Haiyun Damon-Feng, Rebecca Ingber, Rachel Landy, Jacob Noti-Victor, Alexander A. Reinert, Anthony J. Sebok

Amicus Briefs

Amicus curiae brief submitted by 775 law professors in support of Susman Godfrey LLP's motion for summary judgment and request for declaratory and permanent injunctive relief in Susman Godfrey LLP v. Executive Office of the President. The brief argues that Executive Order 14263 unlawfully targets a law firm based on its clients, advocacy, and litigation activities, in violation of the First Amendment, Fifth Amendment, and Sixth Amendment. The amici contend that the order constitutes impermissible viewpoint discrimination, interferes with the right to counsel, and threatens the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law.

An Investigation Of Electrical Surface Impact As A Three-Dimensional Low-Energy Defibrillation Method, Rhiannan Ruef

Theses

Ventricular fibrillation is a medical emergency that leaves the heart unable to beat properly, and is fatal within minutes if left untreated. Furthermore, it’s the leading cause of sudden cardiac arrest according to the NIH, killing over 400,000 Americans every year. Previously, we’ve proposed a new low-energy defibrillation method to restore the heart to its normal rhythm during fibrillation. Our method required further investigation due to the presence of several important dynamical processes. In this dissertation, we report the results of these investigations. First, we will present our results related to a novel behavior called “flopping,” which occurs when a …

God’S Got Me:The Intersection Of Faith And Mental Healing, Bre'anna Coleman

Honors Theses

Due to the lack of healthcare accessibility and other factors within the Mississippi Delta, faith and the church is often utilized within African American communities in the area as a form of mental wellness. The Intersection of Faith and Mental Healing was a photo voice methodology project that highlighted how faith and mental healing intersect and impact African Americans within the Mississippi Delta. Through three prompts, six participants discussed mental health and how faith, location, and their identities shaped their views of mental wellness. Five participants were male with one female participant. Their ages ranged from eighteen to sixty five …

Shelving Stigma: A Grocery Store Client Choice Pantry Model - A Solution To Food Insecurity In Young Adults Of Marginalized Communities While Eradicating The Stigmatization Of Food Pantry Services, Anna C. Buckley

Honors Theses

An increasing number of young adults, age 18 to 35, are becoming food insecure across America, but disproportionately in urban and people of color communities. However, food pantries have remained a social stigma causing food insecure persons to avoid using a food pantry for hunger relief. Research has shown that the grocery store model for food pantries is most beneficial for staff, while also minimizing the stigma and increasing accessibility for pantry clientele. The purpose of this program proposal is to highlight the feasibility of implementation of a client choice grocery store pantry model at the NY Common Pantry (NYCP) …

Thinking Beyond Association Tests: Using Mathematical Models To Identify Genes Influencing Exceptional Longevity, Sandeep Acharya

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The main goal in the genetic study of trait biology is to identify genetic factors, such as variants and genes, that causally influence traits and to understand the downstream mechanisms through which they exert their effects. This dissertation improves our understanding of trait biology by building on widely applied omics-wide association studies (omics-WAS), such as GWAS and TWAS, and proposing methods that (1) combine association statistics from multiple omics modalities and (2) systematically incorporate prior knowledge from biological networks and functional annotations with omics-WAS summary statistics. First, we apply meta-analysis to integrate gene-level p-values from GWAS, TWAS, and rare-variant analyses …

From Doing Business To B-Ready: World Bank’S New Rankings Represent A Rebrand, Not A Revamp, Fernanda G. Nicola, Dhaisy Paredes Guzman

Popular Media

In 2021, the World Bank shut down one of its flagship projects: the Doing Business index, a global ranking system that measured how easy it was to start and run a business in 190 countries. It followed an independent investigation that found World Bank officials had manipulated the rankings to favor powerful countries, including China and Saudi Arabia. The scandal raised serious concerns about the use of global benchmarks to shape development policy. Now, the Bank is trying again. In October 2024, it launched its newest flagship report, Business Ready. The 2025 spring meeting of the World Bank and its …

A Novel Approach To CExp Average Assignments On Chain Graphs, A. Rajesh Kannan

Baghdad Science Journal

In general, the exponential average of two positive numbers does not have to be an integer. Because of this, the exponential average needs to be an integer that takes into consideration the flooring or ceiling function. It has been defined that graphs can be labeled with an exponential average, where the flooring function or the ceiling function can apply labels to the edges. To establish the exponential average assignment on graphs, consider the edge labels that arise from the ceiling function alone. The vertex assignment function 𝛿 and edge assignment function 𝛿∗ are called a Cexp average assignment of the …

U.S. Births Up Slightly But Remain Near 40-Year Lows, Kenneth M. Johnson

Carsey Publications

In this brief, author Kenneth Johnson reports that new National Center for Health Statistics data for 2024 show a slight increase in annual births and the birth rate from 2023. Even with the uptick, both the number of births and the birth rate were near 40-year lows, and there is no evidence of a significant increase in fertility rates in the new data.

The long-term impact of the fertility decline has been substantial. There would have been 11.8 million more births in the last 17 years had 2007 fertility patterns been sustained through 2024. The expense and limited availability of …

Differences In Reported Mental Health For Schools Which Either Ban Or Allow Smartphones, Krista Moyer

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Since approximately 2012, multiple international studies have found that rates of adolescent mental illness are increasing, with smartphone use proposed as one potential cause. Smartphone and social media use has been found to be associated with increased rates of mental illness. Few studies have examined the impact of smartphone policies in schools alongside the variable of mental health. This study examined the mental health items of the Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) in order to compare the mental health of students who were in schools which banned or allowed smartphones. Schools were grouped by policy based on a survey of administrators …

Exploring Ddr2’S Role In Caf Extracellular Matrix Production And Tumor Progression, Favour Ayomide Akinjiyan

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Ovarian cancer has poor survival outcomes particularly for advanced stage, metastatic disease. Metastasis is promoted by interactions of stromal cells, such as cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in the tumor microenvironment (TME), with tumor cells. CAFs play a key role in tumor progression by remodeling the TME and extracellular matrix (ECM) to result in a more permissive environment for tumor progression. It has been shown that fibroblasts, in particular myofibroblasts, utilize metabolism to support ECM remodeling. However, the intricate mechanisms by which CAFs support collagen production and tumor progression are poorly understood. In this study, we show that the fibrillar collagen receptor, …

Wmu Board Of Trustees Formal Session Wednesday April 23, 2025, Wmu Board Of Trustees

WMU Board of Trustees Meetings

Acceptance of the Agenda

Remarks by the Chair of the Board

Remarks by the President

Action Items

• Appointment of Western Michigan University’s Tenth President
• Remarks by Shared Governance Leaders
• Remarks by the President Elect

Fs Transcript 2025-04-23, Northern Illinois University

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of The Relationship Between Case Management And Gateway Course Participation And Completion Rates For Ftic Students At A Small, Rural, State College Campus In The Southeastern United States, Roberto Carballoso

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many first-time in college (FTIC) students are underprepared for the required courses (i.e., gateway courses) of mathematics and English, resulting in low retention rates across the United States especially for diverse and marginalized students. Many colleges have implemented various support programs for FTIC students; however, limited systematic research exists on the success of these programs. Guided by the student retention integrated model by Carbrera et al., the purpose of this quantitative ex post facto study was to assess the efficacy of the Student Learning Center's (SLC) tutoring program on academic outcomes for FTIC students, who have been categorized as high-risk …