Digital Commons Network^™

Smart Intersections: Cooperative Traffic Control For Longer Battery Life Of Communicant Autonomous Vehicles, Fushata Andani Mohammed

Master of Science in Civil Engineering Theses

Abstract

The recent advances in information and communication technologies have enabled cooperative traffic control at signal-free intersections, which can significantly improve safety of the roads and performance of urban networks. The impacts of cooperative control of traffic on the battery life of communicant autonomous vehicles (CAVs), however, are not necessarily positive. This research develops an analytical model for the battery-capacity loss rate of CAV platoons coordinated to pass through signal-free smart intersections with no interruption. The main objective of the research is to demonstrate the importance of adjusting the macro-level setting of the cooperative control system for enhancing the battery …

The Knives I Used, Katelin Carsrud

Master's Theses

The Knives I Used is a collection of short stories written between August 2020 and April 2022, while the author was a student at The University of Southern Mississippi. This thesis contains stories joined by the thematic thread of self-harm and demonstrates the spectrum of ways it presents itself in individuals.

Food Insecurity In Collegiate Athletes During Covid-19, Elizabeth Swindell

Honors Theses

A study done by Georgetown University in 2019 found that one-fourth of NCAA, D1 collegiate athletes experience food insecurity. The study purpose was to examine food security levels in student athletes at a southern university and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security in these students. A survey was completed by student athletes to determine their food security levels during the 2020 academic year at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey included questions relating to food security based on the USDA’s food insecurity module as well as questions specifically related to the impact of food security …

A Series Of Accounting Case Studies, Grace Anne Jones

Honors Theses

The following thesis consists of a variety of case studies surrounding accounting and related topics. Each case contains an introduction to the case and key takeaways from completing the case. Through completing these cases, I gained valuable knowledge regarding current accounting issues a developed a more robust understanding of the profession. The case studies were completed during the 2020-2021 academic year under the direction of Dr. Victoria Dickinson in fulfillment of the requirements for the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College.

Assembling Ideal Actualization In Viennese Social Housing, Jack Day

Honors Theses

The central aims of this paper are to create a potential concept for what an ideal social housing program could look like and then to determine the extent to which the social housing program in Vienna, Austria has brought this ideal to reality. The social housing program in Vienna was chosen due to its popularity as a program and its generally positive reputation. The paper proceeds by first offering potential definitions for social housing, its ideals, and potential indicators for ideal fulfillment. Then, I take influence from the frameworks of assemblage theory and path-dependency theory to analyze the material, temporal, …

An Ipad For Everyone: A Case Study Of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Digital Transition, Madeline Quon

Honors Theses

In a more technology-driven world, the industry of print journalism has been suffering. It has adapted in the past with the invention of the radio and television for broadcast news, but with the internet and social media, print journalism has been losing ad revenue and readers. Because of the advancements of journalism in the digital aspect, several newspapers have shut down over the past 20 years. Other papers changed their business models to make their content more social media oriented.

One newspaper took a more radical approach to not only stay afloat, but also thrive as a paper. The Arkansas …

The Role Of Age Ligand And Rap1a In Myofibroblast Signaling Cascade In Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus-Induced Cardiomyopathic Conditions, Camilla Puglia

Honors Theses

Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, taking more than 90,000 lives annually. Type 2 diabetes mellitus-induced cardiac fibrosis is a common condition seen in diabetic patients. The AGE/RAGE signaling cascade has been strongly associated with this supposed cardiac fibrosis along with hyperactive myofibroblasts which excessively remodel extracellular matrix tissue, leading to damaged and enlarged heart muscle tissue. In diabetic patients, Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) are produced in abundance and accumulate in the extracellular matrix of heart tissue. To investigate the role of of the AGE ligand on fibroblast behavior, increasing amounts of …

It's Just Caring: Improving The Museum Experience For Visitors With Autism Through Social Narratives, Reagan R. Stone

Honors Theses

This project explores how museums can improve the visitor experience for visitors with disabilities, more specifically for visitors with autism. In general, museums are environments that have a specific set of rules, guidelines, and built-in social interactions that visitors are expected to understand and follow. These guidelines, as well as the sensory overload that exists within a new environment, can make visiting the museum a stressful, and even negative experience for individuals with autism and their families. A social narrative, a simple written and visual guide that explains characteristics of new environments and various aspects of social situations, is a …

Crying In Public, Sarah Mullen

Honors Theses

Crying in Public is the culmination of a deeply personal body of work that has acted as a sort of diary documenting my journey of growing up and self-discovery. Over the last few years, I have found that there is meaning to be found in the parts of ourselves that we seek to hide, as well as in the constructions that we build to conceal them. This work seeks to move outside of the binary of one’s “true inner self” to explore the tensions found in the space between who we are and who we wish we were. This work …

Autonomous Planetary Rover Team Final Project Report, William Whitfield, Jason Guenther, Jackson Robison, Davis Tucker

Engineering Senior Design Reports

This design team was tasked to develop autonomous movement, sensing, and navigation capabilities on a rover platform developed by a summer research team working under Dr. Kevin Nickels. The rover is comprised of four subsystems that strive to meet the requirements by establishing movement capabilities through power delivery and control, odometry feedback of the wheels, obstacle detection, and navigation. This report evaluated each design against the requirement they were intended to meet. The following report describes the final design of each of these subsystems, explains the testing performed on each subsystem, and evaluates the results of these tests against the …

Emergency Water Station 3.0 Final Project Report, Winona Menezes, Elyse Reynolds, Robert Swallow, Jacob Thweatt

Engineering Senior Design Reports

The South Texas Human Rights Center (STHRC) tasked our team, The Emergency Water Station 3.0 (3WS), with designing and implementing an emergency water station for migrants and refugees crossing the border between Mexico and Texas. The objectives of this project are to design, build, and test a prototype that can safely provide water to these migrants and refugees while communicating the water amount within the station back to the STHRC without hindrance due to weather or remote location. The following report outlines the features of our complete design, and details the primary functions of the main three subsystems that comprise …

Final Report On Humidification-Dehumidification Desalination Prototype, Kelli Jackson, Simon Jernigan, William May, K. Maui Oyala

Engineering Senior Design Reports

Freshwater available across the globe is decreasing daily due to population growth, climate change, and pollution. The growing scarcity of freshwater affects more than a billion people worldwide and has prompted increased research into desalination processes. Large desalination plants are already in operation but are very expensive to build. Not every community has the means to implement these large systems, advancing the need for smaller, more economical, and efficient desalination plants.

The Desalinators researched and designed a humidification-dehumidification (HDH) desalination prototype that will convert saline water into potable water at a household scale (approximately 5-10 gal/day of freshwater). The sponsor, …

Monitoring And Alert System For The Mabee Organic Waste Solution Final Project Repory, Conner Terry, Evan Sturdivant, Emily Rosenbaum, Krishnan Castillo López

Engineering Senior Design Reports

Mabee Dining Hall at Trinity University has tasked the Mabee Organic Waste Solution team with the design and implementation of an in-vessel monitoring and alert device to monitor and report on the status of compost. This device is intended to provide running updates on important parameters - temperature, relative humidity, and oxygen concentration - in order to ensure production of successful, aerobic compost. If action must be taken by Mabee employees as a result of the values of these parameters falling out of an acceptable range, our device is capable of alerting the user and providing instruction to keep the …

Formula Sae, Carlos Bucheli, Patrick Hensley, Tristan Arias, Max Ulmer

Engineering Senior Design Reports

The Formula SAE senior design project was truly unique. This project had been a 5 year long process to design, build, and test a raceable car. The car was this team's prototype. While the original plan for the team was to develop an energy recovery system (ERS), this scope was altered because of the state of the car the team was left with. Upon examination, the car needed a lot of work before it was even going to start. Therefore, without a running car, there was no way of appropriately testing an ERS. Furthermore, had we developed a prototype for …

Remote Heart Diagnosis, Emma Miller, Edward Armitage, Gerald Daniels, Michael Marquez

Engineering Senior Design Reports

For those in impoverished communities or remote regions, obtaining adequate healthcare can be a burden. Furthermore, limited access to specialists like cardiologists can make curable conditions a death sentence by leading them to be identified too late. An essential factor in the identification of heart conditions is the use of an electrocardiograph to measure the signal of the heart. In this project, the Remote Heart Diagnosis Team endeavored to design and build a prototype capable of remotely collecting and analyzing an electrocardiogram and displaying the results to a cardiologist in any location for review.

The prototype is composed of five …

Stroke Recovery During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Position Paper On Recommendations For Rehabilitation, Suzanne Perea Burns, Talya K. Fleming, Sam S. Webb, Alice Sau Han Kam, Jaimee D P Fielder, Grace J. Kim, Xiaolei Hu, Mary Thelander Hill, Emily A. Kringle

Pediatrics Research and Scholarship

Health care delivery shifted and adapted with the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Stroke care was negatively affected across the care continuum and may lead to poor community living outcomes in those who survived a stroke during the ongoing pandemic. For instance, delays in seeking care, changes in length of stays, and shifts in discharge patterns were observed during the pandemic. Those seeking care were younger and had more severe neurologic effects from stroke. Increased strain was placed on caregivers and public health efforts, and community-wide lockdowns, albeit necessary to reduce the spread …

Hipersexualización E Infrarrepresentación: La Representación De Las Latinas En Jane The Virgin Y Modern Family, Laura Zarate

Honors College Theses

The Latinx community is one of the fastest growing groups in the United States and accounted for half of the total population growth from 2010-2019. Despite the increasing numbers, the statistics for Latinx representation in the media continue to be low. Numbers for Latinx writers, producers, and actors are significantly lower than their non-Latinx counterparts and Latinas, in specific, are one of the most underrepresented groups on television and often being portrayed as hypersexual in comparison to other groups of the same gender. While this underrepresentation has been researched in relation to women, there is limited discussion regarding the lack …

The Use Of Point Of Care Ultrasound To Assess Gastric Contents And Determine Aspiration Risk In The Obese Patient Presenting For Elective Surgery, Harry Senaldi, Mary Zerlan

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Pulmonary aspiration of gastric content is a potentially injurious and fatal complication of anesthesia. Obese patients with a BMI ≥ 35 presenting for elective surgery are at an increased risk of aspiration due to increased gastric pressure, delayed gastric emptying, and higher gastric volumes. Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is a tool that allows the nurse anesthetist to assess gastric content and assign aspiration risk based on the scan results. A knowledge improvement project in the form of a lecture and hands-on tutorial focused on using POCUS to assess gastric content and assign aspiration risk was designed. This project was …

Physician Use Of The Rapid3 To Guide Rheumatology Follow-Up: A Retrospective Examination, Karen Howard

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Abstract

The Quality Improvement Team of a rheumatology clinic was seeking ways to deal with the long intervals for an available follow-up appointment. The use of standardized disease activity assessment tools as a part of patient care is an evidence-based practice that is not employed by over one third of rheumatologists. One of the many uses of these tools is to guide treat-to- target care. Treat-to-target care uses the disease assessment tool score to guide treatment decisions and follow up interval. This project examined the use of a standardized disease assessment tool, the Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 …

Introduction Of Enhanced Recovery After Cesarean Section (Erac) Protocol, Kwame Adu-Affum

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Cesarean section is one of the most performed in-patient surgeries worldwide (Wilson et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2020). Births by cesarean section have been increasing globally. Cesarean birth rate has remained above 31% in the United States, even with the consistent two percent decrease in birth rate per year (Martin et al., 2019). Illinois has also maintained a high cesarean birth rate above 30% (Hamilton et al., 2021). Cesarean patients experience inflammatory and neurohormonal changes with many adverse effects in direct response to surgical stress (Mullman et al., 2020). The post-cesarean physiological effects, including pain, reduced gastric motility, pulmonary …

Perioperative Tube Feeding Guidelines For The Pediatric Burn Patient, Jordan Swanberg

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Pediatric burn patients require an astronomical amount of nutritional support to promote wound healing and prevent unwanted side effects. These patients often require multiple surgeries, and consequently, when following standard NPO guidelines, these patients go for hours without any nutritional support. For this reason, a protocol was implemented on how to administer tube feedings throughout the perioperative process safely. The purpose of this project was to give a PowerPoint presentation to the providers that tested their current knowledge on how to manage tube feedings in the operative setting best. A single group design consisting of CRNA’s and an anesthesiologist was …

Improving Healthcare Team Communication With Limited English Proficiency Families In The Nicu, Ivonne Mandell

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Language barriers are common in healthcare settings, creating disparities in care between individuals with limited English proficiency and those with English proficiency. In the NICU setting, professional medical interpreters have been shown to improve parent/staff communication and increase parent satisfaction by allowing parents to ask questions and form trusting relationships with staff. Solid parent-provider communication can result in better health outcomes by increasing parental empowerment and participation in their child’s care. Despite the acknowledged advantages of using professional interpreters in healthcare settings, they are frequently under-utilized, even when readily available. The purpose of this project was to improve communication with …

Implementation Of Depression Screening In A Nursing Home, Titilayo Raji

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Abstract

Background/Introduction

Unidentified and untreated depression among nursing home residents leads to poor quality-of-life and substantial healthcare dollars are utilized for care management. Use of validated instruments and routine screening provides opportunity for early detection and treatment.

Purpose

The purpose of this project was to educate employees of a nursing home on the use of the Geriatric Depression Screening (GDS) tool, implement it on two units of the nursing home, and evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of this quality improvement project.

Method

An educational presentation was delivered to introduce the implementation plan, GDS screening tool, and protocol for data collection. …

Pediatric Distraction Methods For The Perioperative Period, Jennifer L. Ashton, Katherine M. Rosner

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Abstract

Most pediatric patients will experience anxiety to some degree during the perioperative period. Unrecognized and untreated anxiety can lead to complications during induction of anesthesia and may manifest as maladaptive behaviors that can last up to 6 months postoperatively. Multiple modalities are typically utilized to provide the greatest amount of anxiety relief with minimal side effects. Nonpharmacological methods of distraction have been proven effective when used in combination with pharmacological agents, as well as when used alone. The goal of this project was to create and present an educational resource tool regarding pharmacological and nonpharmacological distraction methods for pediatric …

Improving Staff Education On Lung Cancer Screening At The Illinois Correctional Facilities For The Justice-Involved Individuals, Natalie Bethel, Jillian Youngquist

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Justice-involved individuals are at an increased risk of developing chronic health conditions, including lung cancer. Literature supports the practice of using an annual low-dose CT scan to screen for lung cancer. Illinois Correctional Facilities lacked a lung cancer screening protocol for justice-involved individuals. Lung cancer screening guidelines were approved for the facilities, however, the time frame for implementation was unclear. This DNP project focused on evidenced based guidelines for lung cancer screening with education tools for staff members to prepare them for implementation. Staff was presented with a pre-test, PowerPoint presentation, and a post-test to evaluate lung cancer screening knowledge. …

Identifying Facilitators And Barriers For A Successful Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist’S Clinical Experience, James Clancy, Adam Bruinius

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Student registered nurse anesthetists experience a wide variety of barriers and facilitators to their clinical education; often rotating through several clinical sites during their nurse anesthesia educational program (NAEP) tenure. Existing evidence suggests SRNAs must be proficient in seeking, accepting, and utilizing feedback from clinical preceptors (Algiraigri, 2014). Accepting constructive criticism may be challenging for SRNAs as they are highly skilled, competent nurses who are now entering rigorous NAEPs as novices. Reverting from preceptor to preceptee can be a difficult transition for SRNAs. This project aimed to identify barriers and facilitators to a successful SRNA clinical education through a literature …

Utilizing A Personal Health Coach In The Management Of T2dm, Emily Killebrew, Matthew Huelsman, Verah Bonareri, Terri Furfaro

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) can reduce hemoglobin a1c values and ultimately reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality. Many adults live with uncontrolled T2DM due to a lack of knowledge of disease management. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the implementation of a personal health coach for the management of T2DM in adult patients. An extensive literature review was conducted, and the use of the Diabetes Management Self-Efficacy Scale (DMSES) was chosen to evaluate participants’ self-efficacy regarding their T2DM. Adult patients aged 21-75 with a diagnosis of T2DM and a hemoglobin a1c >7 in a …

Development Of Evidence-Based Rubrics And Instructional Videos For Anesthesia Induction Sequences, James P. Canny, Nathan M. Carroll

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Safe and effective induction of anesthesia is a vital component of any anesthesia provider’s skill set. Although both typical sequence and rapid sequence induction are common procedures, much variance in technique exists among providers. Clear, standardized rubrics are an important element in teaching these skills. The purpose of this project was to update the typical and rapid sequence induction rubrics for the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Nurse Anesthesia Program with the current best practice recommendations. To utilize and reinforce observational learning, instructional videos were also created to accompany the updated rubrics. These materials were presented to the student registered nurse …

Conducting A Root Cause Analysis To Improve Intake Processes And Record Review In Home Health, Christina Guerrero

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Minimization of adverse events, reduction of inpatient admissions, and prevention of polypharmacy within home health are of importance due to the increasing number of Medicare beneficiaries. In 2019, CMS reported 5,266,931 patients were served by home health agencies, accounting for 7,439,849 episodes of care. It is projected that the number of beneficiaries will rise from 54 million to more than 80 million by the year 2030. Medical errors are now the third-leading cause of death in the United States, surpassing diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and stroke. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality identifies a lack of institutional intake processes as the …

Establishing Guidelines To Promote Best Practice For Common Ailments In School-Based Health Clinics, Kaitlin Sweeney, Rachael Schaefer

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the gap in access to medical care of school-age children and identified a need for community-based health clinics to aid in its minimization. Evidence shows the creation of school-based health clinics (SBHCs) in public school districts provides a pathway for students to receive high-quality care in an easily accessible manner. Therefore, patient care guidelines for common ailments seen in SBHCs for a local federally qualified healthcare center (FQHC) were developed in conjunction with the FQHC goal to build and operate a SBHC located in southern Illinois. Eight guidelines were created to analyze the most common chief …