Digital Commons Network^™

Implementation Of A Non-Emergent Medical Transportation Programme At An Integrated Health System, Patrick G Lyons, Brett A Ramsey, Michael Welker, Megan Guinn, Janice K Ernest, Ali Kosydor, Thomas M Maddox

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVES: To implement a unified non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) service across a large integrated healthcare delivery network.

METHODS: We assessed needs among key organisational stakeholders, then reviewed proposals. We selected a single NEMT vendor best aligned with organisational priorities and implemented this solution system-wide.

RESULTS: Our vendor's hybrid approach combined rideshares with contracted vehicles able to serve patients with equipment and other needs. After 6195 rides in the first year, we observed shorter wait times and lower costs compared with our prior state.

DISCUSSION: Essential lessons included (1) understanding user and patient needs, (2) obtaining complete, accurate and comprehensive baseline …

Demographic Disparities In Clinical Outcomes Of Covid-19: Data From A Statewide Cohort In South Carolina, Xueying Yang, Jiajia Zhang Ph.D., Shujie Chen, Bankole Olatosi Ph.D., Larisa Bruner, Abdoulaye Diedhiou, Cheryl Scott, Ali Mansaray, Sharon Weissman, Xiaoming Li Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Background:

Current literature examining the clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients under-represent COVID-19 cases who were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms.

Methods:

We analyzed statewide data from 280 177 COVID-19 cases from various health care facilities during March 4-December 31, 2020. Each COVID-19 case was reported using the standardized Case Report Form (CRF), which collected information on demographic characteristics, symptoms, hospitalization, and death. We used multivariable logistic regression to analyze the associations between sociodemographics and disease severity, hospitalization, and mortality.

Results:

Among a total of 280 177 COVID-19 cases, 5.2% (14 451) were hospitalized and 1.9% (5308) …

Zfta-Rela Dictates Oncogenic Transcriptional Programs To Drive Aggressive Supratentorial Ependymoma, Amir Arabzade, Yanhua Zhao, Srinidhi Varadharajan, Hsiao-Chi Chen, Selin Jessa, Bryan Rivas, Austin J Stuckert, Minerva Solis, Alisha Kardian, Dana Tlais, Brian J Golbourn, Ann-Catherine J Stanton, Yuen San Chan, Calla Olson, Kristen L Karlin, Kathleen Kong, Robert Kupp, Baoli Hu, Sarah G Injac, Madeline Ngo, Peter R Wang, Luz A De León, Felix Sahm, Daisuke Kawauchi, Stefan M Pfister, Charles Y Lin, H Courtney Hodges, Irtisha Singh, Thomas F Westbrook, Murali M Chintagumpala, Susan M Blaney, Donald W Parsons, Kristian W Pajtler, Sameer Agnihotri, Richard J Gilbertson, Joanna Yi, Nada Jabado, Claudia L Kleinman, Kelsey C Bertrand, Benjamin Deneen, Stephen C Mack

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Over 60% of supratentorial (ST) ependymomas harbor a ZFTA-RELA (ZRfus) gene fusion (formerly C11orf95-RELA). To study the biology of ZRfus, we developed an autochthonous mouse tumor model using in utero electroporation (IUE) of the embryonic mouse brain. Integrative epigenomic and transcriptomic mapping was performed on IUE driven ZRfus tumors by CUT&RUN, ChIP, ATAC, and RNA sequencing and compared to human ZRfus driven ependymoma. In addition to direct canonical NF-κB pathway activation, ZRfus dictates a neoplastic transcriptional program and binds to thousands of unique sites across the genome that are enriched with Plagl family transcription factor (TF) motifs. ZRfus activates …

Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of Self-Assemblies In Nature And Nanotechnology, Phu Khanh Tang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nature usually divides complex systems into smaller building blocks specializing in a few tasks since one entity cannot achieve everything. Therefore, self-assembly is a robust tool exploited by Nature to build hierarchical systems that accomplish unique functions. The cell membrane distinguishes itself as an example of Nature’s self-assembly, defining and protecting the cell. By mimicking Nature’s designs using synthetically designed self-assemblies, researchers with advanced nanotechnological comprehension can manipulate these synthetic self-assemblies to improve many aspects of modern medicine and materials science. Understanding the competing underlying molecular interactions in self-assembly is always of interest to the academic scientific community and industry. …

Monte Carlo, Molecular Dynamics And Network Analysis Of The Gramicidin Water Channel And Proton Transfer Pathways To Qb In Photosynthetic Reaction Centers, Yingying Zhang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Water molecules play a key role in all biochemical processes. They help define the shape of proteins, and they are reactant or product in many reactions and are released as ligands are bound. They facilitate transfer of protons through transmembrane proton channel, pump and transporter proteins. Continuum electrostatics (CE) force fields such as used in MCCE (Multi-Conformation Continuum Electrostatics) capture electrostatic interactions in biomolecules with an implicit solvent, to give the averaged solvent water equilibrium properties. Hybrid CE methods can use explicit water molecules within the protein surrounded by implicit solvent. These hybrid methods permit the study of explicit hydrogen …

Dream City: Post-Millennials And Millennials Navigate School, Work, And Housing In New York City, Omar Montana

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the experiences of the “Post-Millennial” (those born after 1996) and “Millennial” (those born between 1981 - 1996) generations, as they pursue their dreams of studying, working and living in New York City. According to Karl Mannheim’s (1923) classic formulation, a “generation” can be perceived as a particular type of social location typified by common “patterns of experience and thought”. Through seventy-five in-depth interviews, the qualitative data revealed a social location characterized by a common pattern of “time is money” – as the German theorist Georg Simmel (1903) postulated more than a century ago – and stress as …

Informed Consent: Foundations And Applications, Joanna Smolenski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since its advent in the 20th century, informed consent has become a cornerstone of ethical healthcare, and obtaining it a core obligation in medical contexts. In my dissertation, I aim to examine the theoretical underpinnings of informed consent and identify what values it is taken to protect. I will suggest that the fundamental motivation behind informed consent rests in something I’ll call bodily self-sovereignty, which I argue involves a coupling of two groups of values: autonomy and non-domination on the one hand, and self-ownership and personal integrity on the other. I will then go on to consider two 'case …

Evaluation Of The Potential Of Automated Sem-Eds Analysis For The Discrimination Of Inorganic Soil Particles, Anna S. Duggar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Soil, that complex mixture of minerals, organic particles, chemicals, and anthropogenic materials, is ubiquitous and easily transferred, which gives it forensic relevance. Forensic soil analysis has traditionally included the identification and comparison of both organic and inorganic components, the inorganic portion being most commonly examined by light microscopy and other instrumental techniques. Predominantly, the inorganic materials in soil are naturally-occurring minerals, contributed as grains from the surrounding bedrock, which gives a soil its regional character. That parent material then undergoes physical, chemical, and anthropogenic changes producing wide geographic variation within a single region. This variation forms the basis for potential …

The Tale Of Two Countrysides: The Shaping Of Landscapes In Hispania And Spanish Latin America, Andrew R. Abrams

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The way that culture expands and transforms in a colonial context has often been viewed in a top-down approach. This thesis focuses on the spread of culture in the Roman conquest of Spain and the Spanish conquest of Latin America. By framing the argument with a discussion on Romanization, this paper shows the presence of the ideas surrounding Romanization in a new context. By investigating what material culture shows, this thesis looks to the countryside to find examples of cultural change. It argues that the villa landscape should be seen as the indicator of the Romanization of Hispania. The structure …

Remarkably Ordinary, An Oral History:
 Examining The Micro Effects Of Family Reunification On The Lee Siblings And Their Spouses, Carol Joo Lee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Family reunification accounts for a majority of entry mechanisms by which current Korean immigrants arrived in the U.S. The peak Korean immigration period from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s saw a dwindling of skill-based immigration and a rapid increase of immigrants who arrived through family preferences as a direct result of the Immigration Act of 1965. Despite there being ample studies and aggregate data on the post-1965 immigrants from Korea, not enough micro-level research has been conducted on the ways in which the family reunification provisions affected individuals, their brothers and sisters, and the inter-family dynamic both prior and …

Positioning The 1913 Paterson Silk Workers’ Strike Within A Dialectical Framework, Raymond Adam Ciafarone Jr.

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis places the 1913 Paterson Silk Strike within a dialectical framework by historically surveying the constant motion of industry in Paterson, New Jersey. It follows the dialectical method by examining the 1913 Paterson Silk Strike not as a singular event but as one part of a continuous historical process. In the late 18th century, a group of investors introduced capitalism to Paterson and completely transformed the social relations of production from a mostly self-sufficient agrarian existence to a center of capitalist manufacturing. From that moment forward, production in Paterson was in a constant state of flux as mills, shops, …

A Difference In Rhythm: John Burroughs As Rhythmanalyst, Jennifer Macdonald

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nature writer John Burroughs wrote about the rhythms of life in nature, people, and places, sharing his experiences of his surroundings for readers to learn from, get inspired by, or escape through. In this literature review, using Henri Lefebvre’s Rhythmanalysis, in which rhythm is the “interaction between a place, a time, and an expenditure of energy” (Lefebvre, 2004, p. 15), I explore some of Burroughs’ writing, asserting that Burroughs himself was a rhythmanalyst. Burroughs is typically read as a literary naturalist who hoped to relay any scene as it truly was (to perfect the “art of seeing things” or …

Tools And Strategies For The Patterning Of Bioactive Molecules And Macromolecules, Daniel J. Valles

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Hypersurface Photolithography (HP) is a printing method for fabricating structures and patterns composed of soft materials bound to solid surfaces and with ~1 micrometer resolution in the x, y, and z dimensions. This platform leverages benign, low intensity light to perform photochemical surface reactions with spatial and temporal control of irradiation, and, as a result, is particularly useful for patterning delicate organic and biological material. In particular, surface- initiated controlled radical polymerizations can be leveraged to create arbitrary polymer and block- copolymer brush patterns. Chapter 1 will review the advances in instrumentation architectures from our group that have made these …

Here Time Becomes Space: The Victorian Spatial Imaginary, Jonathan E. Rachmani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation, “Here Time Becomes Space: The Spatiality of the Victorian Novel,” addresses the Victorian realist representation of space as the open zone of interaction where the circulation of affect among embodied subjects and the places and things in their environment challenges the individualist axis of Victorian plots. I envision this spatiality as a composite literary practice emerging from contact with eighteenth-century realism, the Gothic novel, and the radical revision of the social imagination under the Romantics. Through an analysis of major works by Charlotte Brontё, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Henry James, I trace the dialectical development of realist …

Connecting Communities To Coastal Resilience: Enhancing Sustainability Through Public Participation In Salt Marsh Management And Restoration In Suffolk County, Ny, Jennifer L. Mcgivern

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Coastal resiliency is becoming significantly more critical to the livelihood of coastal communities as the frequency and intensity of storm events increases and is exacerbated by rising sea levels due to climate change. In October 2012 Superstorm Sandy impacted the New York-New Jersey area costing over $70 billion in storm damages and 147 lives lost, as storm surges surpassed record highs for the region. Protruding more than 100 miles into the Atlantic Ocean with over 1,000 miles of shoreline, Long Island is particularly vulnerable to the increasingly ferocious and numerous storms as well as the rising sea levels that climate …

Nonlinear Optical Studies Of Interfacial Ferroelectricity And Strain Distribution In Perovskite Dielectric Films, Tony Le

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dielectric and ferroelectric perovskite films have been model energy storage structures for their low-dielectric loss, extremely high charge-discharge speed, and good temperature stability, yet there is still much to understand about the material’s limitations. This dissertation presents a detailed understanding of the strain-induced ferroelectricity at the boundary between a strontium titanate (SrTiO₃) ultrathin film epitaxially grown on a germanium (Ge) substrate through optical second harmonic generation (SHG), and the polydomain distribution in the Zr-doped BaTiO₃ (BZT) films by time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy.

First, SHG measurements were performed to reveal interfacial ferroelectricity in the epitaxial SrTiO₃/Ge (100) …

Some Notes On Birds: Language And Attention In The Age Of Social Media, Aimee Lamoureux

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Technology, social media, and its affiliated distractions are now an ever-present part of our daily lives. Attention is a commodity, one which tech companies value because it delivers them bigger and bigger profits. Their products are intentionally designed to be additive, to demand more and more of our time and attention throughout our day. However, attention is not simply a commodity, but the way in which we connect with the external world and attend to our everyday experience. The world that we create in the mind is the world that ends up forming the reality of our everyday lives. Complex …

Evaluating The Role Of Gender In Dementia-Related Language Deficiencies, Kelsey Bourque

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Typically, about 60% of dementia patients are women. Researchers have historically dismissed this imbalance as a result of the life expectancy for women being longer, and since age is the primary risk factor associated with dementia, and women’s longer lifespan equates to a higher percentage of the dementia patient population (Mielke, 2018). While the exact cause of dementia is unknown, researchers and clinicians have historically treated male and female populations the same, asserting that there is no significant difference between the two sexes in regards to detecting dementia. The present study aims to address this potential gap in dementia research, …

The Online Impossible Anagram Task: Development And Testing Of A Novel Online Cheating Paradigm, Emily Joseph

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For the past fifteen years, the Russano et al. (2005) cheating paradigm has dominated research in the forensic psychological literature. While this paradigm successfully activates theoretical mechanisms for ethical decision-making, applying the methods for online data collection is cumbersome and retains a confound inherent in the design. Alternative cheating paradigms from both the psychology and economics literatures were evaluated for their suitability for an online cheating paradigm. The impossible anagram task was selected as most likely to elicit the same internal and external cost-benefit analyses online as the Russano et al. (2005) cheating paradigm does in-person: self-concept maintenance, ethical dissonance, …

Machine Learning And Solvation Theory For Drug Discovery, Lieyang Chen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Drug discovery is a notoriously expensive and time-consuming process; hence, developing computational methods to facilitate the discovery process and lower the associated costs is a long-sought goal of computational chemists. Protein-ligand binding, which provides the physical and chemical basis for the mechanism of action of most drugs, occurs in an aqueous environment, and binding affinity is determined not only by atomic interactions between the protein and ligand but also by changes in their interactions with surrounding water molecules that occur upon binding. Thus, a quantitative understanding of the roles water molecules play in the protein-ligand binding process is an essential …

“Woman’S Legitimate Empire”: Fabricating Asianness In Gaskell’S North And South And Mary Elizabeth Braddon’S Lady Audley’S Secret, Hailey Lam

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis argues that the fabrication of Asianness in Victorian literature is indebted to the subtle, yet frequent gestures, habits, and interactions that occur in the literary works of Elizabeth Gaskell and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. By specifically focusing on Gaskell’s North and South (1855) and Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret (1862), I explore a methodological approach for literary studies that is capacious enough to reckon with the material histories and materiality of race that pervade the cultural imagination of an eighteenth and nineteenth century England. Queer of color criticism by scholars like Sara Ahmed and meditations on aesthetics, race, and culture …

An Assessment Of Undergraduate Students’ Research Literacy, Milushka M. Elbulok-Charcape

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research literacy refers to the knowledge and application of statistics and research methods knowledge. Research literacy is important because it enables individuals to become autonomous lifelong learners and informed research consumers. Compared to other types of literacies (e.g., informational, statistical, scientific, etc.), research literacy in the social sciences has received limited attention in psychological theory and research. As a result, assessments of research literacy have notable limitations. Some assessments place undue emphasis on content knowledge of statistics and research methods neglecting the application of knowledge, others present items in a de-contextualized manner, exploring conceptions or attitudes toward research itself rather …

Diffraction-Based Studies Of Magneto- And Baro-Caloric Materials, Steven P. Vallone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The field of calorics represents a class of materials that offer the potential for solid-state cooling and heating, and, given the global climate crisis, comprise a necessary and active area of research. A clear and thorough understanding of their internal structural interactions and their external response to the environment is necessary for overall progress in the field, as accurate theoretical modeling and efficient materials design for devices both depend on this information. Through analysis of x-ray and neutron diffraction, the atomic order and disorder that drives these interactions is revealed. This dissertation focuses on diffraction studies concerning representative samples from …

Spectral Urbanism: Modern Ghost Cities, Rare Earths, And Political Time At The Limits Of Materialism, Linsey Ly

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Contemporary urbanization in China is marked by speed, repetition, and similitude, key features of what I call spectral urbanism that also attends to the presence or absence, to recursivity and deferral. The mass development of empty, outmoded, and seemingly abandoned modern ghost cities in China’s borderlands come to be used as evidence of an interruption or lack in the veneer of Chinese modernity. The contours and quality of stalled development are measured, read in objects of the built environment that have yet to fulfill their anticipated function: vacant buildings, quiet roads that lead no one to empty parks, homes which …

Study Of The Gain-Of-Function Mutant P53 And Parp1 In Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Devon Lundine

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cancer cells often lose expression of the p53 protein or express mutant forms of p53. Some of these mutant p53 proteins, called gain-of-function mutant p53, have gained oncogenic functions. Previously, our group observed mutant p53 R273H interacts with replicating DNA and upregulates the chromatin localization of several DNA replication factors including PCNA, MCM2-7, and PARP1 (termed the mtp53-PARP-MCM axis). In this thesis, we explore the contribution of mutant p53 and PARP1 in castration-resistant prostate cancer (mutant p53 P223L and V274F) and triple-negative breast cancer (mutant p53 R273H). In the castration-resistant prostate cancer cell line DU145, we examine two mutant p53 …

Understanding The Influence Of Zinc On Grain Cadmium Accumulation And Bioaccessibility In Rice, Michael A. Tavarez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The effect of cadmium and zinc on mineral concentrations in three cultivars of rice

Interactions between the essential mineral zinc (Zn) and the toxic heavy metal cadmium (Cd) play an important role in regulating transport of both minerals to rice grains. Understanding these interactions is crucial for limiting cadmium and increasing zinc transfer to the food chain. Previous studies on the matter have had conflicting results suggesting synergistic and antagonistic relationships between the minerals. The goal of this work was to identify the effect of external cadmium and zinc on the uptake and translocation of both minerals from roots to …

Synthesis, Characterization And Applications Of Europium Based Perovskite Oxide Nanoparticles, Nasim Farahmand

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The synthesis and characterization of nanocrystalline transition and rare-earth metal oxides have been studied widely over the past years. These materials possess unique physical, chemical, magnetic and dielectric properties which make them potential candidates for a wide range of applications such as electronics, energy storage and photocatalysis. There are a number of synthesis methods for preparing these materials, where most of them require stringent conditions such as high pressure and high temperature. However, in this study, a modified sol-gel synthesis has been used with a lower calcination temperature to make uniform nanocrystals of the transition/rare-earth metal oxide family. The focus …

Adversarial Training For Skill Learning In A Mobile Robot, Todd W. Flyr

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Machine Learning in mobile robotics is sometimes hampered by the difficulties associated with the creation of a large corpus of labeled data that most neural network based learning algorithms demand. In recent years, advances in the field of machine learning have been facilitated via the creation of large collaboratively-created labeled training datasets that researchers can use as the basis for experiments to validate and improve their candidate neural network architectures. For the field of robotics, however, tasks are so disparate and the physical devices so varied that in most cases the creation of collaborative benchmark datasets are impractical. Obtaining data …

Automated Code Engine For Tensor Hypercontraction: Derivation, Optimization And Implementation Of Rank-Reduced Coupled Cluster Theories, Yao Zhao

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The ultimate goal of electronic structure theory is solving the electronic Schr¨odinger Equation. However, even accurate approximations of solving Schr¨odinger Equation, such as high order coupled cluster theories, require computational efforts that are too demanding to be applied on large chemical systems. This thesis tackles the problem of curse of dimensionality: how to reduce the time complexity of high-accuracy coupled cluster methods in order to accelerate computations of molecular energy. On one hand, we believe that low-rank approximation (i.e. Tensor HyperContraction) of high-order tensors appearing in coupled cluster theory is a promising way to achieve rank-reduced coupled cluster theory. On …

The Structural And Functional Role Of Photosensing In Rgs-Lov Proteins, Zaynab Jaber

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Light provides organisms with energy and spatiotemporal information. To survive and adapt, organisms have developed the ability to sense light to drive biochemical effects that underlie vision, entrainment of circadian rhythm, stress response, virulence, and many other important molecularly driven responses. Blue-light sensing Light-Oxygen-Voltage (LOV) domains are ubiquitous across multiple kingdoms of life and modulate various physiological events via diverse effector domains. Using a small molecule flavin chromophore, the LOV domain undergoes light-dependent structural changes leading to activation or repression of these catalytic and non-catalytic effectors. In silico analyses of high-throughput genomic sequencing data has led to the marked expansion …