Digital Commons Network^™

Improving Parental Communication With Adolescents About Sex, Amanda Blanton

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

In 2018, 68 million people in the United States were infected with a sexually transmitted infection. Of those 68 million, 26 million cases were newly diagnosed, and of that 26 million, half were youth aged 15-24 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2022a). The approaches to educating our youth about sexual health are inconsistent, leading to misconceptions about the dangers associated with risky sexual behavior. However, parents have the upper hand in discussing sexual health information with their children by being the child’s first contact and source of information. Teens who report talking with their parents about sex are …

The Innocence Standard: Supreme Court Nominees And Sexual Misconduct, Lisa Avalos

Connecticut Law Review

Should the United States Senate allow judicial nominees who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct to be seated on the Supreme Court? How should we handle these allegations when they arise during the vetting process? Despite the importance of these questions, lawmakers have failed to address them.

The contentious Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991 featured testimony from Professor Anita Hill and did much to raise Americans’ awareness about the prevalence of sexual misconduct in the workplace. Although Professor Hill subsequently called for the Senate to implement a process for addressing future sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominees, her …

Modeling The Opioid Crisis In Virginia: A Differential Equations Model Assessing The Impact Of Medication-Assisted Treatment On The Addicted Population, Maniha Zehra Akram

Honors Theses

The opioid epidemic is prevalent in countless communities throughout the United States and has yet to be mitigated. Treatments for OUD (opioid use disorder) include Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) and treatment without medication (non-MAT), with the former being judged as more effective in terms of lower relapse rates, death rates, and criminal activity (U.S. Food & Drug Administration, 2023; SAMHSA, 2024). Motivated by the promising research on MAT, this paper models the relationship

between the treatment and addicted populations using a system of ordinary differential equations. In addition to producing closed-form equilibrium solutions, the model leads to the conclusion that expanding …

Influence Of Human And Viral Il-6 On Kshv Infection In Human Tonsil Lymphocytes, Wajd Zakir

Pharmaceutical Sciences (MS) Theses

Infection of B cells by the lymphotropic gamma-herpesvirus Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) causes Multicentric Castleman Disease, Primary Effusion Lymphoma, and the newly-identified inflammatory syndrome designated KICS. Despite proven connections to lymphoproliferative disorders, little is known about how KSHV invades the human immune system or the early events governing infection in B lymphocytes. IL-6 signaling plays a critical role in KSHV-mediated disease, where elevated hIL-6 levels are positively associated with KSHV viral load and disease progression. This dynamic is even more complex due to the co-existence of human IL-6 (hIL6) and KSHV-encoded viral IL-6 (vIL6) in these diseases. Although the impact …

Open-Access Publishing In Special Education And Related Fields, Esther R. Lindström, Jesse I. Fleming, Danika Pfeiffer, Tamara Kalandadze, Bryan G. Cook

Speech-Language Pathology Faculty Publications

Open access to research findings, syntheses of research, and papers providing guidance on implementing research-based practices is critical for informing policy and practice in special education and related fields. Yet most published articles are behind paywalls and cannot be accessed freely by many practitioners, policymakers, individuals with disabilities and their families, and other interested parties. In this article, we describe the benefits of open-access publishing for researchers and research consumers, as well as different types of open-access publishing–with a particular focus on self-archiving or green open-access publishing. Self-archiving makes papers freely available, with little time burden and no monetary cost …

Gender Identity And Birth Certificates: The Surrogacy Nexus, Richard F. Storrow

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article confronts and responds to the weaponization of birth certificates in recent controversies around gender identity by drawing parallels between gender identity and intentional parentage. A juxtaposition of gender identity with parentage identity reveals that they share the common underpinning of self-identification, raising the question why birth certificates are permitted to reflect one’s parentage identity but, as has been suggested in numerous controversies involving transgender litigants, not one’s gender identity. This Article argues that, for the same reasons that a surrogacy arrangement permits the parties to it to define for themselves who are the legal parents of the child …

Docket Part 1 (Entries 1 - 4888)

Dockets & Filings: U.S. v. Washington (70-cv-9213)

Includes filings from September 18, 1970 - August 31, 1978

Deep Adaptive Graph Clustering Via Von Mises-Fisher Distributions, Pengfei Wang, Daqing Wu, Chong Chen, Kunpeng Liu, Yanjie Fu, Jianqiang Huang, Yuanchun Zhou, Jianfeng Zhan, Xiansheng Hua

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Graph clustering has been a hot research topic and is widely used in many fields, such as community detection in social networks. Lots of works combining auto-encoder and graph neural networks have been applied to clustering tasks by utilizing node attributes and graph structure. These works usually assumed the inherent parameters (i.e., size and variance) of different clusters in the latent embedding space are homogeneous, and hence the assigned probability is monotonous over the Euclidean distance between node embeddings and centroids. Unfortunately, this assumption usually does not hold since the size and concentration of different clusters can be quite different, …

What’S Faith Got To Do With It? Young Earth Creationism And The Promise Of Certainty, William Vance Trollinger, Susan L. Trollinger

Intersections of Science and Faith

Contrary to what one might imagine, the proponents of Biblical creationism do not appeal to religious faith. Instead, they proclaim Genesis 1 as a historically and scientifically true description of creation by the only "eyewitness" (God), a description that they say is clearly substantiated by genuine, empirical science (as opposed to what they claim is the false, biased science of evolutionists). That is to say, young Earth creationists possess the certainty of truth.

Genocide By Way Of Birth: Why Denial Of Abortions Makes Poland Complicit In Russia's Genocide In Ukraine, Summer N. Wright

California Western International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Developments At The United Nations International Law Commission On Sea-Level Rise, Claudio Grossman Guiloff

American University International Law Review

This article examines some of the challenges presented by the phenomenon of sea-level rise in relation to international law with a focus on the analysis undertaken by the Study Group on Sea-Level Rise (“Study Group”) of the United Nations International Law Commission (“ILC”).

A Systematic Review Of Phenotypic And Epigenetic Clocks Used For Aging And Mortality Quantification In Humans, Brandon Warner, Edward Ratner, Anirban Datta, Amaury Lendasse

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Aging is the leading driver of disease in humans and has profound impacts on mortality. Biological clocks are used to measure the aging process in the hopes of identifying possible interventions. Biological clocks may be categorized as phenotypic or epigenetic, where phenotypic clocks use easily measurable clinical biomarkers, and epigenetic clocks use cellular methylation data. In recent years, methylation clocks have attained phenomenal performance when predicting chronological age and have been linked to various age-related diseases. Additionally, phenotypic clocks have been proven to be able to predict mortality better than chronological age, providing intracellular insights into the aging process. This …

An Exploration Of Administrative Implementation Of Academically Challenging Curriculum To Enhance Learning (Accel- Fl Statute 1002.3105) In Florida Elementary Schools, Patricia L. Cummings

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This study investigated the content of 14 Florida district's Student Progression Plans and supportive district documentation to gain a better understanding of each district's implementation of Florida statute 1002.3105, ACCEL; explored the knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of principals of K-5 schools in two large counties in Florida in enacting ACCEL; and utilized the study's findings to create a guide for administrators. The first phase of the study analyzed the 14 largest Florida public school districts utilizing a content analysis and checklists on best practice in acceleration policy from Lupkowski-Shoplik et al. (2018) to examine each district's implementation. The second phase …

Advanced Algorithms For Cancer Cell Detection And Tracking, Qibing Jiang

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Microscopy image processing is critical for precision oncology and immunotherapy, two approaches in cancer treatment often combined to enhance patient outcomes. Numerous scientists have studied the effects of drugs on the immune system and tumors. To quantify the impact of various drugs on different immune and cancer cell types, medical researchers conduct ex vivo assays. In these assays, patient-derived live cells are placed in an artificial microenvironment where drug responses are monitored over time. Brightfield microscopy captures one image every half hour of numerous patient-derived cells in an ex vivo reconstruction of the tumor microenvironment treated with 31 drugs for …

Examining How Pejorative Stereotypes About Black Women Shape Their Experiences In Physics Ph.D. Programs, Camille A. Coffie

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This research study is part of a larger study that examines the experiences of Black women in physics graduate programs to identify priorities for departmental change initiatives to remove structures that keep out and/or push out Black women. This research also reinforces the ongoing necessity to raise awareness about the impact of stereotypes on how Black women are perceived and how stereotypes affect the matriculation of Black women in physics graduate programs. Black women represent the lowest percentage of students in physics graduate programs and often contend with stressors like microaggressions, bias, and stereotype threats that impede their success and …

Spectral Approaches For Characterizing Heterogeneity In Infectious Disease Models, Seoyun Choe

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Heterogeneity, influenced by diverse factors such as age, gender, immunity, behavior, and spatial distribution, plays a critical role in the dynamics of infectious disease transmission. Discrete mathematical structures, including matrices and graphs, can offer effective tools for modeling the interactions among these diverse factors, resulting heterogeneous epidemiological models. This dissertation explores analytical approaches, specifically utilizing eigenvalues and eigenvectors of discrete structures, to characterize heterogeneity within mathematical models of infectious diseases. Theoretical results, along with numerical simulations, enhance our understanding of heterogeneous epidemiological processes and their significant implications for disease control strategies.

In this dissertation, we introduce a unified approach to …

The Role Of Adiponectin In Gustatory Perception Of Fat, Fangjun Lin

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Taste is a major driving force that influences food choice and dietary intake. Animals' taste abilities vary due to genetics, sex, age, and hormonal status. There is evidence that several appetite-regulating hormones can modulate gustatory detection of fat, and this hormonal modulation of fat taste likely influences food palatability and selection, thereby altering fat intake. Adiponectin is a key metabolic hormone predominantly released from adipose tissue, which enhances insulin sensitivity and stimulates glucose and fatty acid metabolism. Adiponectin receptors are highly expressed in the taste system, indicating that adiponectin signaling may play an important role in the modulation of gustatory …

Evidence Of Positive Associations Between Intertidal Shoreline And Subtidal Seagrass Communities In A Subtropical Ecotone, Gabriel Benson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Fringing seagrass beds are important components of coastal ecotones. Their association with shoreline morphology and shoreline restoration, however, is poorly understood. We combined GIS analyses with field-based monitoring to better understand intra-ecotone associations between shorelines and fringing seagrass beds. Using GIS analyses of aerial imagery, shoreline characterization models, and seagrass coverage models, the relationship between shoreline morphology, erosion, and fringing seagrass persistence was examined in Mosquito Lagoon, FL between 2011 and 2021. For the field-based portion of the study, fringing seagrass beds growing adjacent to restored, living shoreline segments were monitored throughout the 2023 growing season (March – November). All …

Spatial Variability Of Hydrodynamics Within Crassostrea Virginica (Eastern Oyster) Reefs: Investigating The Effect Of Canopy Density On Flow And Turbulence., Manisha Thenuwara

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Oysters are ecosystem engineers that shape coastal aquatic environments through hydrodynamic influence, which is governed by the reef structure. Hydrodynamic studies have investigated effects of oyster reefs as whole systems, overlooking the spatial variability inherent in canopy structures. In this research, a field investigation was undertaken to characterize spatial variability of flow dynamics within a single eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) reef and query how the local canopy density influences the hydrodynamic environment. High-resolution flow measurements were taken within and above the oyster canopy over a range of flow conditions. Hydrodynamics were compared across reef locations as the oyster …

Climate Change And Coastal Development Impacts On Oyster Abundances In Mosquito Lagoon, Fl, Emily Suchonic

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Live eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) reefs have declined by 62.6% in Mosquito Lagoon (ML) along the eastern Florida coast since 1943. While this species creates reefs by successive generations of oysters recruiting to conspecific shells, C. virginica can also attach to non-reef substrates including mangrove roots and armoring (e.g., seawalls), which may help counteract reef habitat loss. In recent decades, warmer winters have enabled red (Rhizophora mangle) and black (Avicennia germinans) mangrove expansion in subtropical salt marshes and temperate estuaries where oyster reefs occur. Additionally, 11.8% of ML's shorelines have been armored as of …

What Fishing Tackle Should I Bring Today?: Safety Harbor Resource Collection Tools As Adaptations To Aquatic Environments, Richard J. Davis Iii

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This thesis reports on the results of research conducted to determine whether technological adaptations to local environmental conditions can be observed through geospatial and artifact analysis of Safety Harbor collections from the Tampa Bay region of Florida. Past artifact and spatial analysis did not take advantage of modern technological advancements when studying how human-environmental interactions can influence certain adaptations to local conditions. In this project, GIS was used to reconstruct local aquatic environmental conditions of waterways adjacent to Safety Harbor sites. New statistical software programs have also proven themselves useful to archaeologists seeking to conduct hypothesis testing of artifact data. …

A Paradoxical Tale: Sodium Taurocholate Counteracts Bactericidal Potency Of Silver-Modified Cerium Oxide Nanoparticle (Agcnp), A Sporicidal Disinfectant Against C. Difficile On Abiotic Surfaces, Deepa Shah

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The nosocomial pathogen Clostridioides difficile colonizes the gut leading to antibiotic-associated diarrhea, and severe inflammation. C. difficile spores—the main agent of transmission—survive for months on contaminated surfaces. Common disinfecting agents such as bleach and peroxides are used to prevent this; however, these chemicals are highly corrosive, toxic and pose serious health concerns. Seeking to address the challenges posed by conventional disinfectants, our research tested the feasibility of redox-active, silver-modified cerium oxide nanoparticles (AgCNP) formulations as a safer alternative. We tested the efficacy of AgCNP in rich culture media on C. difficile NAP1, a known hypervirulent strain associated with hospital endemics, …

The Case For Photothermal Spectroscopy In The Future Of Planetary Science Missions, Christopher T. Cox

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Optical PhotoThermal InfraRed (O-PTIR) is a relatively new spectroscopy method for studying materials. It produces transmission-like spectra using a remote reflectance technique that is rapid, requires little sample preparation, and is well-suited for the technique to be adapted for a space flight instrument. The method involves a tunable pulsed IR laser creating a photothermal effect on the surface of a material and measuring the distortion of a probing visible laser in the same region of the sample, which can be obtained at sub-micron spatial resolutions. A measurement campaign was performed utilizing Photothermal Spectroscopy Corporation's O-PTIR instrument, mIRage®. In this campaign, …

Building Better Homes For Pollinators: How Native Plants Benefit Pollinator Communities In Suburban Landscapes, Mykayla Hagaman

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Pollinators provide key ecological services. With one-third of our global food production dependent on pollinators, maintaining healthy pollinator communities is vital. Bees are the most pervasive and effective pollinator species, yet are currently declining worldwide, with the main cause linked to habitat loss. To combat this decline, researchers are turning to suburban landscapes to aid in pollinator conservation. Incorporating native plants into suburban landscapes has been shown to benefit pollinators. However, there is a lack of information on how different landscape designs and growing conditions influence pollinator communities. To better understand whether native plants can effectively improve suburban pollinator habitats, …

Examining The Impact Of A Video Review Guide On Robotic Surgical Skill Improvement, Mary Mansour Soliman

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Surgical education has the arduous task of providing effective and efficient methods of surgical skill acquisition and clinical judgment while staying abreast with the latest surgical technologies within an ever-changing field. Robotic surgery is one such technology. Many surgeons in practice today were either never taught or were not effectively taught robotic surgery during training, leaving them to navigate the robotic learning curve and reach mastery independently. This dissertation examines the impact of a video review guide on improving robotic surgical skills. Using Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory as a framework, the literature review argues that video review can be used …

Work Motivation And Occupational Attitudes: An Application Of Self-Determination Theory Among Rangers, Richard L. Elligson Jr

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Job attitudes of rangers play a key role in the implementation and effectiveness of conservation initiatives. As such, scholars have begun to examine the attitudes rangers hold towards their role, organization, and external working environment. However, little is known about work motivation among rangers. Work motivation is a key predictor of employee performance, job attitudes, and well-being. The relationship between work motivation and ranger occupational attitudes may offer insight that conservation agencies can leverage to improve positive job attitudes. Guided by self-determination theory and the criminal justice literature, this study examines the relationship between ranger work motivation and attitudes towards …

Examining Factors Associated With Secondary Trauma Through Lived Experiences Of K-12 School Leaders And Their Impact On School Leadership Practices., Shakelia M. Henderson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This dissertation delves into the intricate examination of factors associated with secondary trauma as experienced by K-12 urban school leaders and the subsequent influence on their leadership practices. A primary objective of this research is to comprehend the contributing factors leading to post-traumatic growth among school leaders while also investigating their perceptions of the school district's role in fostering this growth. Set within an urban school district, this study focuses explicitly on Title 1 schools, where the impact is expected to be pronounced. Existing literature highlights a dearth of knowledge regarding the nuanced effects of secondary trauma on school leaders, …

The Role Of Medical Cannabis Use In Pain, Sleep, And Mental Health Outcomes Among Older Adults, Madison H. Maynard

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Older adults represent the fastest growing demographic of cannabis users, and they endorse cannabis use for a variety of reasons including modulation of chronic pain, mental health symptoms, and sleep concerns. Despite escalating patterns of use, current evidence leaves questions of efficacy unanswered among these groups of users. Goals of the present study were to examine the role of medicinal cannabis within subjects at the daily level on the interrelated symptoms of depression, anxiety, sleep, and pain. A final sample of 106 medical cannabis users were recruited nationwide, ranging from 55 to 74 years of age (66.67% female, 82.86% white). …

The Color Of Disease: Race Science, Pandemic Influenza, And The Rise Of Epidemiology In The Segregated South, Andrew Kishuni

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This thesis evaluates the relationship between race science and eugenics, statistical epidemiology and Southern public health thought, African American health, and the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic. Historians have neglected the flu as an important epidemiological event in Southern history and historiography. To demonstrate the significance of the flu, this thesis makes several arguments based on research from new qualitative and quantitative evidence. The chief argument is that African Americans suffered disproportionately compared to whites in the South, challenging the consensus that the flu affected both races equally. Segregation did not protect African Americans from the flu. In some cases, African Americans …

Do Generalist-Pollinated Plants Exhibit Pollination Syndromes? Examination Of Floral Size, Shape, Color, And Scent On Pollinator Services To Wild Sunflowers (Helianthus), Charles A. Pitsenberger Ii

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Traditional pollination syndromes group angiosperms into categories based on how floral traits impact the functional group of pollinator most associated with those traits. The concept, while well supported for specialist-pollinated plants, is a poor predictor of pollinator identity in generalist systems, such as those common to the family Asteraceae. One potential avenue for future refinement of the concept is the combination of large floral trait datasets, quantitative pollinator data, and phylogenetic comparative methods. Helianthus is a well-studied genus of North American aster whose species include the agriculturally significant H. annuus, which represents the third largest oilseed crop globally. The genus …