Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding The Implications Of Under-Reporting, Vaccine Efficiency And Social Behavior On The Post-Pandemic Spread Using Physics Informed Neural Networks: A Case Study Of China, Samiran Ghosh, Alonso Ogueda-Oliva, Aditi Ghosh, Malay Banerjee, Padmanabhan Seshaiyer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In late 2019, the emergence of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, led to the implementation of stringent measures forming the zero-COVID policy aimed at eliminating transmission. Zero-COVID policy basically aimed at completely eliminating the transmission of COVID-19. However, the relaxation of this policy in late 2022 reportedly resulted in a rapid surge of COVID-19 cases. The aim of this work is to investigate the factors contributing to this outbreak using a new SEIR-type epidemic model with time-dependent level of immunity. Our model incorporates a time-dependent level of immunity considering vaccine doses administered and time-post-vaccination dependent vaccine efficacy. We find that vaccine …

Age And Sex-Specific Stroke Epidemiology In Covid-19, Youngran Kim, Maria A Parekh, Xiaojin Li, Yan Huang, Guo-Qiang Zhang, Bharti Manwani

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has emerged as an independent risk factor for stroke. We aimed to determine age and sex-specific stroke incidence and risk factors with COVID-19 in the US using a large electronic health record (EHR) that included both inpatients and outpatients.

METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using individual-level data from Optum

RESULTS: Of 387,330 COVID-19 patients, 2,752 patients (0.71%, 95% CI 0.68-0.74) developed stroke during the 180-day follow-up, AIS in 0.65% (95% CI 0.62-0.67), and ICH in 0.11% (95% CI 0.10-0.12). Of strokes among COVID-19 patients, 57% occurred within 3 days. Advanced age was associated with a substantially …

Association Of The Gut Microbiome With Kidney Function And Damage In The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study Of Latinos (Hchs/Sol), Brandilyn A Peters, Qibin Qi, Mykhaylo Usyk, Martha L Daviglus, Jianwen Cai, Nora Franceschini, James P Lash, Marc D Gellman, Bing Yu, Eric Boerwinkle, Rob Knight, Robert D Burk, Robert C Kaplan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The gut microbiome is altered in chronic kidney disease (CKD), potentially contributing to CKD progression and co-morbidities, but population-based studies of the gut microbiome across a wide range of kidney function and damage are lacking.

METHODS: In the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, gut microbiome was assessed by shotgun sequencing of stool (

RESULTS: Higher eGFR was associated with overall gut microbiome composition, greater abundance of species from Prevotella, Faecalibacterium, Roseburia, and Eubacterium, and microbial functions related to synthesis of long-chain fatty acids and carbamoyl-phosphate. Higher UAC ratio and CKD were related to lower gut microbiome diversity and …

Exploring Leaders' Sensemaking Of Emergent Global Norms For Open Science: A Mixed Methods Discourse Analysis Of Unesco’S Multistakeholder Initiative, Lisa Cuevas Shaw

Theses and Dissertations

In November 2021, all 193 United Nations Member States adopted the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Recommendation on Open Science (UNESCO, 2021a), which signaled a shared commitment to globally recognized standards for open science. However, as with other normative instruments established by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) such as UNESCO, the ways in which local, national, and regional leaders will implement the recommendation can and will vary (Finnemore, 1993). Top-down and bottom-up coordination across international stakeholders in the research system is critical for the framework to be effective in driving global policy implementation and enabling sustained research culture change. …

Autonomy And Coordination: A Field Study, Jessica Kaufman

Theses and Dissertations

With an emerging remote and dispersed workforce that is consequently more autonomous, OD professionals will need to understand how autonomy relates to coordination to help organizations adapt and be effective. The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between team member autonomy and inter-team coordination in organizations. The manager-team participants in this study spanned eleven industries, including 22 teams from 15 companies. The researcher took a mixed-method approach using interviews and surveys to assess autonomy and coordination. The research resulted in five variables: three variables measured coordination and two variables measured autonomy. Autonomy and coordination were significantly and …

Overcoming The Space Between Us: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach To Bridge Building, Kate Hanisian

Theses and Dissertations

Facilitators in organization and community contexts (and other practitioners whose job it is to move groups of people forward together) are faced with the undercurrent of human conflict every day in meetings and gatherings around the world; often with limited access to an overarching tool to help prevent and manage conflict in most settings. The purpose of this paper was to uncover patterns in bridge building practices so that anyone who finds themselves in the role of facilitating conversations between people who are very different or do not like each other might lean into a set of practices that can …

Non-Binary Experiences In The Context Of Gender Dichotomization: A Qualitative Systematic Review, Chyna (C.J.) Parker

Theses and Dissertations

Gender diverse persons have historically and presently faced unique challenges, marginalization, and discrimination. The lived experiences of the transgender nonconforming population are still widely unresearched, and most research treats transgender and transgender nonconforming (TGNC) people as a homogeneous group. This neglects the nuanced and diverse experience of the TGNC population. This integrative systematic review of the literature was conducted in order to identify and highlight the experiences of transgender nonconforming persons in the context of a binarily set world. The following questions guided this study: (a) What are the identity-related experiences of non-binary individuals in the context of gender dichotomization?, …

Examining The Workplace Well-Being Of Elementary School Teachers Whose Students Participated In A Social Emotional Learning Program, Yorri Berry

Theses and Dissertations

In the past few decades, public school teachers have faced many challenges, including differentiated instruction to diverse students, increased classroom management, and standardized testing. The accumulation of these challenges has created high teacher attrition rates leading to teaching shortages. Understanding the barriers and useful supports to address the challenges teachers face can help lower attrition rates and enhance teaching quality. This study examines the workplace well-being of elementary school teachers whose students participated in a social and emotional learning program. The study included 16 elementary school teachers in schools with a large population of students who are particularly vulnerable to …

The State Of Psychological Services For People With Physical And Cognitive Disabilities: An Integrative Systematic Review, Megan K. Benton

Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated the state of psychotherapy for people with physical and cognitive disabilities in a systematic review. Specifically, this study analyzed qualitative and quantitative studies which examined therapists’ abilities to conceptualize disability as a dimension of cultural competence, the models and conceptualizations of disability and psychotherapy being used with people with disabilities (PWD) in psychotherapy, and the experiences of PWD in psychotherapy. This study analyzed 18 empirical studies and integrated both qualitative and quantitative methods. Source eligibility criteria for this systematic review was the same for both qualitative and quantitative studies. Eligibility criteria included being: peer-reviewed journal articles, …

From The Boardroom To The Laptop: An Exploration Of African-American Women's Journeys Navigating The Transition From Corporate America To Digital Entrepreneurship, Nina Grace Shelby

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research explores African-American women's challenges transitioning from Corporate America to entrepreneurship. It aims to highlight the lived experiences of African-American women entrepreneurs and the strategies they employ to achieve successful business ownership. The study utilized a phenomenological approach, using in-depth interviews with African-American women entrepreneurs to gather data on their experiences. The research findings identify significant challenges such as bias and discrimination, lack of resources and support, and personal obstacles that African-American women face when transitioning to entrepreneurship. The research study also identifies effective business practices used by African-American women, such as networking, mentoring, and having a solid …

Surveillance Technologies And Constitutional Law, Christopher Slobogin, Sarah Brayne

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This review focuses on government use of technology to observe, collect, or record potential criminal activity in real-time, as contrasted with “transaction surveillance” that involves government efforts to access already-existing records and exploit Big Data, topics that have been the focus of previous reviews (Brayne 2018, Ridgeway 2018). Even so limited, surveillance technologies come in many guises, including closed-circuit television, automated license plate and facial readers, aerial cameras, and GPS tracking. Also classifiable as surveillance technology are devices such as thermal and electromagnetic imagers that can “see” through walls and clothing. Finally, surveillance includes wiretapping and other forms of communication …

The Perils Of Asian-American Erasure, Matthew P. Shaw

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Affirmative action, particularly its most well-known variant, race-conscious college admissions practices, has long occupied a precarious position in constitutional jurisprudence of equal protection and statutory antidiscrimination law. As a policy matter, affirmative action practices are necessary to reduce the impact of durable structural barriers to opportunity that have been imposed on members of identifiable racial groups because of their race. Legally, they’re on far less secure footing.

As a constitutional matter, these measures have been summarily divorced from any reparative purpose since the “diversity rationale” emerged from Regents of the University of California v. Bakke as the only compelling interest …

Differences By Race And Ethnicity In Title Ix's Effect On Women's Health, W. Kip Viscusi, Joni Hersch, Delaney Beck

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Title IX greatly expanded adolescent females’ participation in athletic activities, which may have led to health benefits that extend into later life. Previous research has not explored whether health benefits arising from Title IX differ by race or ethnicity and has not examined women at older ages when health problems become more evident. This article examines the effect of Title IX on racial and ethnicity disparities in health outcomes by considering women aged 42–52 years. White women in these age groups exhibit declines in their self-assessed health status and increases in many health-related ailments, consistent with other evidence on temporal …

When Love Hurts: Confronting William Styron’S Racial Misery In College Composition Classrooms, Natasha D. Moore

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Acknowledging and attending to how professors feel about their students is an often ignored but fundamental component in creating relationship-rich pedagogy. This paper references William Styron’s “This Quiet Dust” to facilitate a transparent discussion about how we truly feel about Black Language, its role and use in the academy, and how these feelings ultimately shape how our Black students experience our encounters with them.

New Normal Feels Anything But: Practical Strategies For Mental Wellness In The Pandemic Classroom, Maria Bane, Maggie Freeman

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The COVID-19 pandemic continues highlighting the need for relationship-rich education, even while presenting challenges related to mental health and isolation for students and faculty. Return to face-to-face instruction has signaled a “new normal” that might feel anything but normal. This discussion draws on James Lang’s principles of small teaching, the idea that faculty can make small, manageable changes to teaching that significantly improve student learning and avoid faculty burnout. Specifically, motivation and growth mindset are explored to offer practical tips for promoting mental well-being in the classroom.

Guide To Relationship-Rich Education In Teaching & Learning: Introduction To The 2022 Pedagogicon Proceedings, Russell Carpenter, Kevin Dvorak

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The Guide to Relationship-Rich Education is a compilation of teaching strategies that promote relationship-rich education strategies (Felten & Lambert, 2020) across higher education contexts. In this guide, teacher-scholars present relationship-rich strategies and corresponding analyses across teaching and learning environments.

Ungrading General Education: Preliminary Results From A Pilot Study, Stacey J. Korson, Eric B. Meiners, Matthew Howell, Alison Buck, Kaitlynn Moody, Matthew P. Winslow, Travis L. Martin, Anne Fleischer

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

A group of faculty members representing more than 20 courses listed in the Eastern Kentucky University General Education curriculum participated in a pilot program to test and measure the effectiveness of “ungraded” pedagogy. “Ungrading,” as defined by the group, can be any conscious effort to move student emphasis away from grades and onto learning. Given this definition, ungrading took many forms in the pilot: gradeless classrooms, grading contracts, and greater choice of assignments by students, to name a few. At the end of the semester, quantitative and qualitative data was gathered from student course evaluations; DFW and retention rates were …

Training University Tutors To Work With Bilingual Students, Sara Incera, Haleigh Hamilton, Angie J. Marroquin, Socorro Zaragoza, Trenia Napier, Lara Kristin Vance, Ashley Matthews Sweat, Judith L. Jenkins

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The purpose of this project was to train university tutors to improve their support of bilingual students (ESL/ELL students). We developed an evidence-based training session that emphasizes university connectedness and cultural inclusion. This one-hour training included background information, tutoring tips, and time for discussion. The majority of tutors (44 out of 47) reported learning something helpful they could use when tutoring. While this intervention was specifically designed to target bilingual students, most evidence-based tips discussed here are applicable to all students. It is crucial to provide tutors with the skills and resources necessary to better connect with their students.

Police Excessive Use Of Force: Preventing Trauma-Induced Stress And Anxiety In The Black Community, St. Louis, Mo., Ashleigh A. Cole

Selected Social Change Portfolios in Prevention, Intervention, and Consultation

Goal Statement: The goal of this portfolio is to increase awareness of mental health disparities in the Black community due to experiencing or witnessing police brutality.

Significant Findings: This brief explores issues of police excessive use of force during interactions with Blacks that result in trauma-induced stress and anxiety, whether witnessing or experiencing such brutality, for this marginalized population. In St. Louis, Missouri, Blacks who experience police use of force in person or “seeing a video of police use of force in the media” experience moderately high police contact anxiety (Murez, 2021, para. 7). The scope of the problem illuminates …

The Latina Experiences Of Intimate Partner Violence In The Rio Grande Valley, Lucas Enrique Espinoza, Luis Enrique Espinoza, Rosalva Resendiz, Georgina Villegas-Montenegro

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a severe public health and criminal justice issue that disproportionately affects women more than men. This sought to explore Latina experiences of IPV in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). Twelve Latina IPV survivors from the RGV, ages 24 to 40 years old, were interviewed using purposive and snowball sampling methods. Several primary themes were discovered: types of abuse; perceived reasons for the abuse; education and economic insecurity; why stay or leave an abusive relationship; the criminal justice system’s role; and self blaming. All participants (n = 12) were college educated and endured IPV victimization at …

Graduate Catalog, Georgia Southern University

Graduate Catalogs

No abstract provided.

African American Youth-Identity, Invisible Powers & Hypnotic Blaxploitation-Themed Film Tropes: From Superfly & Drug Culture To Black Panther & Wakanda, Daniel Mitchell

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

This thesis project explores the most influential effect of the blaxploitation era. It is during a time shortly after the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, where black youth are still enduring identity issues. The point of departure for central discussion of this work revolves around the mesmerizing Hollywood blaxploitation film, Superfly. It arrived on the big screen in 1972. The hit movie and its soundtrack seemingly hypnotized countless young African American youth in urban areas to become drug dealers and users. This coincided with Nixon’s War on Drugs collusion with government agencies, and the secret COINTELPRO operation. They …

The Limits Of Community: Wendell Berry, Books Bans, And Intellectual Freedom As An Individual Right, Michael Kirby

Publications and Research

Beginning with a broad overview of community-oriented arguments for or against intellectual freedom (exemplified, in one case, by the writer and activist Wendell Berry), this chapter defines two forms of community: one active, the other passive. But do appeals to community make sense in environments increasingly hostile to intellectual freedom? In what ways have both of these forms already been weaponized by right-wing actors? It can certainly be argued that intellectual freedom benefits communities, but what if a community rejects intellectual freedom altogether? After detailing a recent case involving Nikole Hannah-Jones’s The 1619 Project as well as subsequent efforts to …

The Effects Of Relational Poverty: Healing Our Culture, Jenet Erickson

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

One of the most vexing challenges of our day is a profound hunger for connection, evidenced by an epidemic of loneliness, violence, relational poverty, and increasing mental health challenges. We are born to be in deep connection with others. As German analyst Frieda Fromm-Reichman wrote, “The longing for interpersonal intimacy stays with every human being from infancy through life, and there is no human being who is not threatened by its loss.” A radical cultural focus on autonomy with the associated ruptures in family stability, decreased religiosity and community engagement have increased loneliness in spite of the seeming “connectivity” of …

The Need For An Asian American Supreme Court Justice, Vinay Harpalani

Faculty Scholarship

In her insightful Comment on Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina (hereinafter SFFA cases), Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig critiques Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion for its “simplistic understanding of race and racism.” She interrogates the “doxa” — the “unexamined cultural beliefs” that structure the majority’s narrative on racial experiences. Onwuachi- Willig elucidates how Chief Justice Roberts accepts whiteness as a tacit norm and ignores the marginalization of people of color. She contrasts this with the “fuller” history of American racism brought forth by Justices …

Cuing Disparities: The Consequences Of Race-Based Social Stressors For Academic Achievement, Dorainne J. Green, Kathryn M. Kroeper, Mary Murphy

Psychology Faculty Publications

Underrepresented racially and ethnically minoritized (URM) students contend with individual-level race-based stressors in college, like racialized discrimination and microaggressions. In this study, we consider whether URM students' perceptions of racial inequity on campus—a context-level race-based stressor—trigger adverse psychological and physical stress responses that, in turn, undermine academic achievement. Using a sample of 781 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students, we found in a longitudinal study that URM students report perceiving more inequality on campus compared with White and Asian students. Greater perceived inequality was, in turn, associated with increased psychological and physical stress responses, which, in some cases, predicted …

Girls Are Good At Stem: Opening Minds And Providing Evidence Reduce Boys' Stereotyping Of Girls' Stem Ability, Emily N. Cyr, Kathryn M. Kroeper, Hilary B. Bergsieker, Tara C. Dennehy, Christine Logel, Jennifer R. Steele, Rita A. Knasel, W. Tyler Hartwig, Priscilla Shum, Stephanie L. Reeves, Odilia Dys-Steenbergen, Amrit Litt, Christopher Lok, Taylor Ballinger, Haemi Nam, Crystal Tse, Amanda L. Forest, Mark Zanna, Sheryl Staub-French, Mary Wells, Toni Schmader, Stephen C. Wright, Steven J. Spencer

Psychology Faculty Publications

Girls and women face persistent negative stereotyping within STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). This field intervention was designed to improve boys' perceptions of girls' STEM ability. Boys (N = 667; mostly White and East Asian) aged 9-15 years in Canadian STEM summer camps (2017-2019) had an intervention or control conversation with trained camp staff. The intervention was a multi-stage persuasive appeal: a values affirmation, an illustration of girls' ability in STEM, a personalized anecdote, and reflection. Control participants discussed general camp experiences. Boys who received the intervention (vs. control) had more positive perceptions of girls' STEM ability, d = 0.23, …

"How Exactly Does It Get Done Here?" Conducting Cross-Jurisdictional Research With Judges And Court Staff, Paula Hannaford-Agor

Faculty Publications

The legal, political, and organizational environment in which judges and court staff work affects their performance in significant ways. To ensure that researchers control for these effects, it is critical that they take sufficient time in the research design phase to identify relevant factors that might complicate their analyses or distort the interpretation of research findings. This article highlights common challenges of multijurisdictional research, including inconsistent use of terminology, differing organizational structures and procedures, and exogenous factors such as court governance, policymaking authority, funding, and local court culture. It also offers guidance to researchers on identifying and integrating these factors …

Secondary Traumatic Stress Is An Occupational Hazard For Pet Hospice Support Staff: Psychoeducational Support Groups Provide The Cure, Kari Hayden

DSW Capstone Projects

There are three separate yet interrelated products presented in this final capstone product. The completed product is focused on pet hospice veterinary support staff and the need for an evidence-based social work intervention to combat secondary traumatic stress. This capstone uses the andragogical approach to adult learning theory as the foundation to construct a psychoeducational peer support group specific to this population. Implications for clinical social work in veterinary medicine are presented within this project.

The first scholarly product presented is the Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The SLR utilizes a scoping review process in an attempt to locate prior research …

International Social Work Field Education, Shelli Gregory

DSW Capstone Projects

International Social Work Field Education (ISWFE) involves a set of unique challenges. For the literature review of this capstone project 20 peer-reviewed journal articles written between the years 2009 and 2018 were reviewed to answer the following research question: What are the unique challenges associated with ISWFE and the best practices for combatting these challenges? The challenges most frequently mentioned in the literature are the perpetuation of colonial mindset; students experiencing emotional vulnerabilities, stress, & distress (guilt, shame, loneliness, fear, helplessness, isolation, and homesickness); supervisory issues; language barriers; funding; culture shock, disequilibrium, or clash; safety concerns; administrative problems such as …