Digital Commons Network^™

Unlocking Potential: The Transformative Power Of Trauma-Informed Schools On Students' Well-Being And Academic Success, Tiffany Carolino

University Honors Theses

Trauma-informed approaches in public schools have emerged as a promising strategy to address students' social-emotional well-being and academic success impacted by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). This paper explores the necessity and effectiveness of trauma-informed practices within educational settings. Adverse childhood experiences encompass a range of traumatic events that profoundly affect children's development, behaviors, and academic performance. Despite the prevalence of ACEs, traditional disciplinary practices often fail to address the underlying issues, leading to further challenges for students. This literature review examines three trauma-informed programs: HEARTS, TIES, and STRIVE, each offering strategies to support students and educators. Results from these programs …

Genome Editing Using Crispr-Cas9 In Annual Killifish Species, Keria Moritsugu-Vandehey

University Honors Theses

CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing has been used successfully to knock out genes in model organisms such as zebrafish, turquoise killifish, and cichlid fish. CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing has not been verified in the annual killifish, Austrofundulus limnaeus. We hypothesize that targeted editing of the tyrosinase gene in embryos of A. limnaeus will lead to fish without the ability to produce black pigment. Embryos at the 1-cell stage were injected with a Cas9 cocktail containing a mix of guide RNA molecules that target the genomic sequence of the tyrosinase gene and either an mRNA coding for the Cas9 protein or Cas9 protein. …

Psilocybin With Acceptance And Commitment Therapy (Act) For The Treatment Of Social Anxiety Disorder (Sad), Aspen E. Allred

University Honors Theses

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a debilitating mental health condition characterized by an overwhelming fear and anxiety of social rejection that can lead to chronic patterns of social behavioral avoidance. Despite the existence of traditional efficacious treatments, a significant number of individuals either do not respond to treatment or experience a recurrence of symptoms over extended periods, spanning 10-12 years. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a form of acceptance-based behavioral therapy considered part of the "third wave" of cognitive behavioral therapies, has shown promising results in early studies, comparable to those of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that is considered the …

Providing Incarcerated Youth With A Community Of Their Peers, Providing Resources, And Modeling Healthy Attachment May Lead To Prosocial Behaviors, Emilee Brnusak

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the connection between gang activity and attachment style. A summary of literature suggests that childhood attachment injuries lead to antisocial, maladaptive relationships and neurological changes that impact executive functioning and emotional regulation. These factors leave youth at higher risk of gang membership. This thesis then explores how an outreach experience at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility inspired a large-scale intervention called Resources for Attachment-injured Youth (RAY) that could be implemented in youth prisons across the country.

An Argument For The Integration Of Black Psychology In Undergraduate Psychology Program, Kelsey D. Glass

University Honors Theses

When we think about the theories behind the foundation of American psychology, many European names come to mind (i.e. Freud, Erickson, Brofenbrenner etc.). This Euro-American mode of psychology has been the standard in American Undergraduate education since the founding of a formal psychological education in the U.S. but what about names like Wade Nobles, Joseph White, Na-im Akbar, or Linda James Myers? These forerunners of Black Psychology are elusive in the foundational education of current American Undergraduate programs due to longstanding racial bias in the field. This bias reflects the systemic racism that American culture was founded on. This paper …

Synergnet: A Graph Neural Network Model To Predict Anticancer Drug Synergy, Mengmeng Liu, Gopal Srivastava, J. Ramanujam, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

Drug combination therapy shows promise in cancer treatment by addressing drug resistance, reducing toxicity, and enhancing therapeutic efficacy. However, the intricate and dynamic nature of biological systems makes identifying potential synergistic drugs a costly and time-consuming endeavor. To facilitate the development of combination therapy, techniques employing artificial intelligence have emerged as a transformative solution, providing a sophisticated avenue for advancing existing therapeutic approaches. In this study, we developed SynerGNet, a graph neural network model designed to accurately predict the synergistic effect of drug pairs against cancer cell lines. SynerGNet utilizes cancer-specific featured graphs created by integrating heterogeneous biological features into …

A Pathway To World Law? International Solidarity As Key To Overcoming Our Current Global Crises, Obiora C. Okafor

Articles & Book Chapters

This article analyzes the extent to which international solidarity is key to overcoming our current global crises; a goal that must be achieved in robust measure if humanity is to have a chance at successfully constructing the kind of deeply integrated world society that is a pre-condition for the emergence and global acceptance of world law properly so-called. In developing its argument, it devotes the first three sections to relatively in-depth explanations of three concepts that are key to an understanding of the issues at hand, namely: the identity and nature of our current global crises; the idea of world …

Bard Observer, Vol. 22, No. 4 (March 2024), Bard College

Bard Observer, 2020 - 2029

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Anthropogenic Noise On The Provisioning Behavior Of Western Bluebirds And Artificial Light At Night On Nestling Development, Kerstin H. Ozkan

Master's Theses

Sensory environments are rapidly changing due to increased human activity in urban and non-urban areas alike. For instance, background sounds can interfere with parent-offspring communication and mask cues reflective of predation risk, resulting in elevated vigilance at the cost of provisioning. In chapter 1, we studied nestling provisioning behavior among Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) in response to short-term (1 hr) and long-term (continuous exposure throughout nesting period) noise exposure. Provisioning rates were lower at nests exposed to short-term experimental traffic noise compared to exposure to ambient background sounds. Trial order strongly influenced provisioning behavior, with the decline in …

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms And Platelets: Infiltration, Inflammation, And Elastin Disintegration, Bowen Li, Hong S. Lu, Alan Daugherty

Saha Cardiovascular Research Center Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ipulse: March 2024, Lynn University

Student Newspapers

Issues:

• March 2024 [Spring Week #4]
• March 2024 [Spring Week #5]
• March 2024 [Spring Week #6]

The Epidemiological And Clinicopathological Features Of Breast Cancer In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ahmad Aa. Omer, Ali Sa. Hummedi, Noura Ia. Almuhaimed

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To investigate the epidemiological and clinicopathological features of breast cancer (BC) in Saudi Arabia to improve decisions regarding resource allocation, disease control, and management. Methods: We retrieved the records of all patients who presented with histologically proven BC at King Fahad Medical City between 2019 and 2020. The data were analyzed quantitatively, and the results were expressed as percentages and frequencies. Results: This study comprised 419 patients. The mean age was 50.13 (± 10.96) years. The majority of the patients were obese (56.6%), and approximately a quarter had a history of oral contraceptive pill use, breast biopsy, or an …

Female Sexual Dysfunction In Urinary And Double Incontinence, Murat Yavuz Koparal, Serhat Çetin, Ender Cem Bulut, Mecit Gürhan Ceylan, Esat Ak, Metin Onaran, İlker Şen

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To evaluate the sexual function of women with urinary incontinence (UI) and double incontinence (DI) comparing with a healthy control group by using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Methods: This study was designed as a retrospective study consisting of UI, DI, and a control group, each containing age-matched 40 patients. Statistical comparisons were made among the UI, DI, and control groups in terms of the FSFI total score as well as each domain’s score. Results: The FSFI total scores were found to be 22.92, 20.53, and 20.32 for the control, UI, and DI groups, respectively, and no statistically …

Why I Chose To Practice In Rural Michigan, Lisenia M. Collazo Dmd, Mph

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This article explores the motivations behind dentists choosing rural practice, focusing on personal experiences and factors influencing career decisions. The narrative outlines the author’s journey from Pennsylvania to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, emphasizing a commitment to addressing oral health disparities in underserved communities. The discussion covers training experiences, financial considerations, community engagement, and the challenges of rural health care. The author also highlights the role of mentorship and advocates for building relationships with mentors in the profession, especially in rural settings. The essay underscores rural practice’s unique advantages, including professional growth, lower living costs, and a supportive community.

Advocating For Teens In Single-Parent Households, Bailey Davis

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

This article examines the issue of young adolescents living in a single-parent household. Challenges include reduced income, limited resources, family stress, and less parental involvement. Academic achievement and social- emotional development may be adversely affected. Teachers can help by becoming advocates for these students.

Personal Dosimeter Testing For High Altitude Air Crew, Seth D. Bacon

Theses and Dissertations

In 2014 the Thermo Scientific N2 electronic personal dosimeter became the aircrews’ sole means to record ionizing radiation dose. The production of this dosimeter was discontinued in July of 2021, motivating the Air Force to seek a flight-certifiable replacement. The Thermo Scientific Trudose NG, Mirion DMC 3000, and Fuji NRF-51 electronic personal dosimeters, as well as the Landauer InLight optically stimulated luminescent dosimeter, were subjected to mixed gamma and fast neutron fields simulating a high-altitude flight environment. Dosimeters are evaluated on their consistency and accuracy in reporting dose and compared to the current N2 dosimeter’s reported dose.

Single Particle Analysis Of Operation Roller Coaster Environmental Samples, Caleb J. Sapp

Theses and Dissertations

The release of plutonium and other actinides into the environment following a nuclear detonation or accident, poses a health risk to biological systems. The spread, or transportation of that plutonium and its daughter products through environmental and meteorological means increases the potential affect and inherent danger within the surrounding area. In the 1960’s, a study was conducted in a joint effort by the US and Great Britain to collect information regarding the spread of plutonium released into the environment through a sub-critical detonation. Soil samples from these tests were collected by the USAF in 2015, approximately 50 years after these …

Design Considerations For The Use Of The Julia Programming Language In Future Quantum Networking Simulation Software, Takashi Joubert

Theses and Dissertations

Given the prevalence of Python-based packages in the existing quantum network simulation ecosystem, we attempt to assess what might be realistically gained by switching to Julia. We focus our experimental activities on three areas: 1) surveying the characteristics of Julia as they tie into robust framework development, 2) presenting benchmarks that compare Julia and Python with respect to elements of possible simulation workloads, and 3) producing a tangible lightweight Julia architecture for modeling components in a manner similar to SeQUeNCe. Our analysis suggests that while Julia does o.er performance advantages over Python over certain workloads, knowing the reasons for why …

Improving Rogue Radio Emitter Detection Using Siamese Networks, Mason Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Radio Frequency Fingerprinting (RFF) is the process of creating discerning signatures of emitted radio signals, most often with the goal of identifying specific devices again in the future. The security benefits of this task are intended to build upon current software-based authentication by making use of multi-factor authentication (MFA), but the related task of being able to reject unwanted emitters is limited. This paper presents a Siamese network trained on two different extracted fingerprints of raw Wi-Fi signals, along with a verifier to perform classification and rogue device detection. It was found that fingerprints using the Distortion Reconstruction (DR) technique …

Gamma Protection Factor For A Surrogate Armored Vehicle Exposed To The Us Army Fast Burst Reactor, Ian J. Poropat

Theses and Dissertations

This work measures the Gamma Protection Factor (GPF) of a steel cube, which is meant to serve as a surrogate for armored vehicles. The GPF is measured at the White Sands Missile Range Fast Burst Reactor (FBR) and is modeled using MCNP® v6.2 transport simulation software. When exposed to the FBR, the GPF is found to depend roughly linearly on the distance between the reactor core and steel cube. The GPF is determined to be 1.176 ± 0.00067 at 9.21 m, 1.098 ± 0.0011 at 26.16 m, and 1.033 ± 0.00082 at 42.92 m. MCNP® estimates the GPF for the …

On Intrinsic Dimensionality Of Data Sets And Neural Networks, Ori Chachmo

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of Intrinsic Dimensionality (ID) is of special interest in the field of Neural Networks (NNs) since it promotes both (a) a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms, and (b) embraces parsimonious modeling (that is, building the right-sized model for the task) with associated benefits to processing speed and storage requirements. This thesis explores the concept of ID via two separate, but related, questions. First, we study the potential of NN ID prediction by exploiting easily obtained quantities measured on the data. We then explore NN ID as an independent concept by comparing the results of different methods for …

Retrospective Cohort Study Of Pure Tone Audiometry Hearing Changes From Ototoxic Metalsand Solvents, Continuous Noise, And Impulse Noise Exposures At Hill Air Force Base From 2005 To 2019, Zachary I. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

This retrospective cohort epidemiological study investigated the relative risks of hearing loss associated with ototoxicants in combination with noise exposure. Utilizing Department of Defense (DoD) industrial hygiene and hearing conservation data, this research expanded on a 2020 thesis conducted on Tinker Air Force Base (AFB), applying a similar methodology to Hill AFB, adding 893 evaluated individuals. Grouped into twelve exposure combinations with a minimum of three years of exposure duration, the study assessed various hearing loss indicators, including DoD Standard Threshold Shift (STS) and NIOSH STS. Ototoxic substances consistently elevated relative risk (RR) compared to noise-only exposure groups, but none …

Artificial Intelligence And Perception: An Empirical Study, Anthony J. Neil

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the impact of adjusting artificial intelligence explainability levels’ outputs on user perception. The overarching study extends within the Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) domain. It examines a spectrum of variables, including performance, cognizance, familiarity, transparency, system bias, and the overall impact of AI, to understand their collective and individual effects that enable effective professional use in an organization. The study aims to illuminate the relationship between the degree of explainability provided by large language models such as ChatGPT, Bard, and Bing AI and the performance of these models when tasked with XAI adjustments.

Deploying Field-Capable Genome Sequencing: Human Performance Considerations Under Various Personal Protective Equipment Ensembles, Steven A. Torres

Theses and Dissertations

Field-portable genome sequencing enhances the Department of Defense's strategy for detecting biological threats, particularly in resource-limited environments. While current field-capable detection methods are effective, challenges in identifying emerging threats pose risks to personnel safety. As biotechnological advancements like portable nanopore genome sequencing can advance biological detection capabilities, the viability of conducting laboratory tasks under Mission-Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) ensembles lacks sufficient data. This research assesses the effectiveness of tools like pipettes, centrifuges, vortexes, and nanopore sequencing within a MOPP ensemble. Novice participants were utilized to explore the extension of this capability, and they completed tasks in three conditions: Fatigues, Laboratory …

Extracellular Domain Mutations Of The Egf Receptor Differentially Modulate High-Affinity And Low-Affinity Responses To Egf Receptor Ligands, Jennifer L Macdonald-Obermann, Linda J Pike

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The EGF receptor is mutated in a number of cancers. In most cases, the mutations occur in the intracellular tyrosine kinase domain. However, in glioblastomas, many of the mutations are in the extracellular ligand binding domain. To determine what changes in receptor function are induced by such extracellular domain mutations, we analyzed the binding and biological response to the seven different EGF receptor ligands in three common glioblastoma mutants-R84K, A265V, and G574V. Our data indicate that all three mutations significantly increase the binding affinity of all seven ligands. In addition, the mutations increase the potency of all ligands for stimulating …

Clinical And Genomic Correlates With Genetic Ancestry In Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Sejal Jain Md, Alexander Yao, Fatemeh Momen-Heravi, Diane Allen-Gipson, Xiaoyang Zhang, Jian Carrot-Zhang, Alison Taylor

USF-LVHN SELECT

No abstract provided.

Grapheme-Color Synesthesia In Patients With Epilepsy, Snow Pinxue Li Md, Atef Kokash Do, Martina Vendrame Md, Phd

USF-LVHN SELECT

No abstract provided.

Sex Differences In Brain Mri Of Patients With Migraines, Y Su, S Singh, Victoria Qizhi Tay Md, Vitaliy Koss Md, Megan Leary Md, Hope Kincaid Mph, Cph, Hussam A. Yacoub Md, John Castaldo Md

USF-LVHN SELECT

No abstract provided.

Distributed Feature Representations Of Natural Stimuli Across Parallel Retinal Pathways, Jen-Chun Hsiang, Ning Shen, Florentina Soto, Daniel Kerschensteiner

2020-Current year OA Pubs

How sensory systems extract salient features from natural environments and organize them across neural pathways is unclear. Combining single-cell and population two-photon calcium imaging in mice, we discover that retinal ON bipolar cells (second-order neurons of the visual system) are divided into two blocks of four types. The two blocks distribute temporal and spatial information encoding, respectively. ON bipolar cell axons co-stratify within each block, but separate laminarly between them (upper block: diverse temporal, uniform spatial tuning; lower block: diverse spatial, uniform temporal tuning). ON bipolar cells extract temporal and spatial features similarly from artificial and naturalistic stimuli. In addition, …

Considering The Lessons Of Curriculum Studies In The Design Of Science Instruction: Varieties Of Meaning And Implications For Teaching And Learning, William F. Mccomas

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article is an introduction to the rich domain of curriculum studies with specific reference to science teaching and learning. It is designed not as a systematic review or theoretical treatise but rather as an overview for those charged with transforming science content and processes into a classroom curriculum. In other words, while written from the scholarly perspective of curriculum studies, the hope is that it will be seen by teachers as a set of possibilities rather than recommendations while reminding educators that what happens in classrooms to students and their parents is the curriculum, but it is only one …