Digital Commons Network^™

Unsafe & Unsound: The Future Of Supervised Injection Sites After United States V. Safehouse, Chloe Rigogne

Fordham Law Review

In the past few years, the United States has experienced a dramatic increase in drug overdose deaths due to factors such as a growing prevalence of synthetic opioids like fentanyl and the strains brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the overdose crisis, states and municipalities have started considering once-taboo harm reduction practices, including the implementation of supervised injection sites that facilitate individuals’ use of drugs under the care and supervision of medical professionals. However, supervised injection sites may run afoul of 21 U.S.C. § 856—often referred to as the “crack house” statute—a law introduced in the 1980s …

A Socio-Ecological Model To Assess Tuberculosis In Migrant Farmworkers In The Us-Mexico Border Region, Amit U. Raysoni

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The migrant and seasonal farmworker toiling in the fields and orchards of the United States of America surmounts innumerable problems daily. Some of these problems pertain to the overall health of the farmworker in addition to the various occupational hazards that he or she faces. This research paper focuses on Tuberculosis infection—both latent and active—in the migrant farmworkers in the United States with a special focus on the US-Mexico border. Using the Socio-Ecological Model as a theoretical framework, the TB health issues faced by this group are studied. The various determinants of health at every level of the Socio-Ecological Model …

Systems Genomics Of Nucleoporins Provides Prognostic Insights Into Breast Cancer, Rashid Mehmood, Kazuya Jibiki, Zakeya J. Alsafwani, Muhammad Naseem, Noriko Yasuhara

All Works

Background: Nucleoporins (Nups) constitute a large group of proteins that are structurally arranged at the nuclear envelope and facilitate the bidirectional movement of molecules across the nuclear membrane. In addition to regulating the shuttling of ribonucleoprotein complexes, RNAs and proteins, various Nups interact with chromatin either directly or indirectly, thus regulating gene expression. Any mutations or expression anomalies of Nups may lead to abnormal localization of critical molecules, or dysregulated expression of genes that they interact with. A comprehensive genomic study encompassing all Nup genes in relation to breast cancer is lacking. Methods: We used genomic and transcriptomic datasets from …

Deficiencies Within Guatemalan Criminal Justice Institutions When Detecting And Prosecuting Sextortion Crimes, Julia A. Bolotovsky

Student Theses

Sextortion is a form of corruption involving sexual exploitation, in which requests for monetary bribes are replaced by requests for sexual acts. Within Latin America, this crime is especially pertinent in Guatemala. Therefore, this study aims to identify which factors contribute to the occurrence of sextortion within Guatemala, while also analyzing the larger realm of violence against women. Based on semi-structured interviews with local experts and civil society activists, this study argues that sextortion is enabled by deficiencies within Guatemalan criminal justice institutions when detecting and prosecuting this crime. In order to effectively counter sextortion, more emphasis needs to be …

Exploring Criminal Thinking Patterns And Cognitions In High Risk Sexually And Non-Sexually Violent Offenders, Ruby L. Orth

Student Theses

The current understanding of shared offense supporting attitudes between different offender types is limited. This study compares criminal thinking styles and rape supportive attitudes between high-risk offenders who have engaged in either sexual or violent behavior. A sample of 237 incarcerated male high risk sexually violent and non-sexually violent offenders participated in a study where they completed a series of self-report questionnaires including the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) (Walters, 1995) and Bumby’s (1996) MOLEST and RAPE scales. Significant differences in criminal thinking between offender types was hypothesized. Significant overlap of rape supporting cognitive distortions, regardless of offender …

Driving Under The Influence Of Drugs: Status In New York City And Development Of New Analytical Tools, Kayla Marschke

Student Theses

Driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) cases have increased in recent years. According to NHTSA, drug use among fatally injured drivers who were tested for drugs rose from 25% in 2007 to 61.4% in 2020. Knowing what drugs are used by the drivers and developing new analytical tools to detect them are essential to prevent this type of cases. The goals of this study were two-fold: 1) To investigate the prevalence of drugs and drug combinations in New York City based on data provided by the Office Chief Medical Examiner (2018-2019); 2) To develop and validate an analytical method …

Pondering Possible Psychological Pandemonium: Covid-19’S Impact On Undergraduate Students’ Distress Levels, Laura Alarcon

Student Theses

The pandemic has altered everything in its path, including a broad impact on mental health, but not everyone has been affected equally. The COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to examine if previously found differences in how non-Hispanic white and Latinx populations experience anxiety persist and/or were compounded. This study investigated distress levels of Latinx and non-Hispanic white undergraduate students at a public Hispanic Serving Institution both prior to and during the pandemic. A two-way ANOVA was run on a subset of an existing database to assess changes in distress levels between the two populations and timeframes. It was hypothesized that …

A New Look At Landslides Of The Vermilion And Echo Cliffs, Northern Arizona, Conor M. Watkins, J. David Rogers

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Vermilion and Echo Cliffs form a nearly continuous escarpment more than 160 km long within the Colorado Plateau physiographic province of North America. The cliffs overlie the Marble Platform in northern Arizona and are located along the Colorado River, just upstream of the Grand Canyon. Large rotational block landslides mantle the erosional escarpment along most of its extent. Although these landslides have been noted for over 100 years, their likely origin has never been explained. Landslide failure surfaces appear to be influenced by the Petrified Forest Member of the Triassic Chinle Formation, a shale layer containing smectite clay weathered …

Evaluation Of Accelerated Testing Methods To Predict The Effects Of Chemical Exposure On Mechanical Properties Of Polyester Composites In Municipal Wastewater Service, Roberto A. Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

Composite Access Products (CAP) is a company that is determined to replace traditional steel manhole covers with fiber reinforced polymer alternatives that have similar performance while also introducing several advantages. CAP can achieve this by manufacturing the polymer manhole covers using high-speed, high pressure compressing molding to produce lightweight, long-lasting, corrosive resistant covers. CAP’s composite covers have been approved for use by TXDOT in roadway zones. Despite this, they must now undergo more testing and verification for use in environments with highly corrosive elements such as sewage environments and waste processing plants. In these situations, the polymer manhole covers will …

Removal Of Arsenic (Iii) And Arsenic (V) From Aqueous Solution Via Common Sunflower Helianthus Annuus By Phytoremediation, Irving A. Vazquez Hurtado

Theses and Dissertations

Phytoremediation provides a cost-effective, non-invasive technique to remove contaminants from the soil and groundwater. Sunflowers are fast growing and have a showed effective at removing various pollutants from soil, including lead and other heavy metals. Health issues related to arsenic are mainly attributed to exposure of arsenite, whereas arsenate is much less toxic. The common sunflower Helianthus annuus was the species used to remove both arsenic (III) and As(V) ions from hydroponics solutions. In the present study sunflower seeds were germinated for a week, placed under the sun for a day and subsequently placed in a nutrient solution to aid …

Tribological Characterization Of Nickel-Based Cold Spray Coatings For Aerospace And Industrial Manufacturing, Albert Alejandro

Theses and Dissertations

Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing (CSAM) is a sub-category of thermal spray technology where a metal powder is accelerated in a gas stream toward a metal substrate at high velocities, producing a metallurgical bond with the metal substrate on impact. The present study investigates the effect of Al2O3 additions on the tribological properties of nickel-based cold spray coatings deposited on aluminum 6061 for aerospace and industrial manufacturing. The tribological performance of the nickel-based cold spray coatings with and without Al2O3 additions was evaluated using an abrasive wear test based on the ball-crater technique. In addition, the wear and friction characteristics of …

Engaging Students During Research Through The Use Of Games, Francisco Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

Engaging students during a research seminar/meeting can be a difficult challenge, and as as student myself, I can attest to how difficult actively listening to a presentation can be. As such, upon researching more ways to have an audience engaged, one of the most promising concepts is the use of games. Games, in any form, can be very engaging to a person, and even more so if there is active engagement and participation within an audience group. With this concept in mind, I decided to take it upon myself to create a game based around a theoretical computer …

Corrido Of A Returning Angel: A Collection Of Stories, Ricardo Marez Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

As a Chicano (Mexican-American), person of color with a lower-middle class, American, South Texas upbringing, the world of authors and literature has always felt out of reach and not particularly inviting towards people like me—let alone representative or celebratory. In spite of this, or perhaps owing to it, I have decided to shoot my literary shot, unremittently holding onto my unique voice and unconventional styles in this first collection of short stories. I discuss in depth my inspirations and role models in writing, including Henry Miller and Whitman, with discussion of literary style and genre that include: surrealism, absurdism, allegory, …

Investigation Of A Simultaneaous Direct And Indirect Contact Dehumidifier Using Parallel Strings For Hdh Desalination, Josue Perez Perez

Theses and Dissertations

Freshwater is a limited and precious resource. Currently, half a billion people in the world face sever water scarcity all year round. Humidification dehumidification (HDH) systems have received special attention among the variety of small-scale desalination technologies due to its potential to create affordable and sustainable seawater desalination, especially when combined with natural power sources such as waves, wind, and solar rays. Improvements in the development of HDH desalination systems have been achieved in recent years. Nonetheless, the improvements that have received most attention focus on solar heaters and humidifiers. Dehumidification systems have often been adapted from air conditioning condensation …

On Approximating Solitary Wave Solutions For The Classical Euler Equations, Julio C. Paez

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, we use a method based on Hirota substitution or the Wronskian method to find approximate solitary wave solutions to the classical Euler equations. This method uses a small parameter lambda as the basis of approximation, a parameter derived from the form of prospective solutions we consider, rather than the standard small parameters alpha and beta. The L-infinity norm and asymptotic notation are used to measure the accuracy of the approximation rather than finding the error explicitly.

An Application Of Matrices To The Spread Of The Covid 19, Selena Suarez

Theses and Dissertations

We represented a restaurant seating arrangement using matrices by using 0 entry for someone without covid and 1 entry for someone with covid. Using the matrices we found the best seating arrangements to lessen the spread of covid. We also investigated if there was a factor needed to create a formula that could calculate the matrix that shows who would be affected with covid with each seating arrangement. However, there did not seem to be a clear pattern within the factors. Aside from covid applications, we also investigated the symmetries in seating arrangements and the possible combinations with these arrangements …

Black Male Educators Matter: Modeling And Expectations In K-12 Settings, Denelle Wallace, Linda Bol, Kendra Hall, Erin Cousins

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

In light of the teacher shortage and increased emphasis on diversifying the educator workforce, the recruitment and retention of Black male educators is critical. The researchers focused on how these educators perceive their impact as role models and what others expect from them in K-12 contexts. The researchers administered questionnaires (N=38) and conducted interviews (N=11). Most educators considered themselves to be positive role models, especially for Black students. Expectations about their responsibilities as disciplinarians were positive unless imposed by race or at the expense of perceived academic skills. They needed to prove themselves with respect to academic qualifications. Interpersonal relationships …

Engagement Of Families In The Care Of Hospitalized Pediatric Patients: A Scoping Review, Teresa Jerofke-Owen, Natalie S. Mcandrew, Karen Gralton, Joan P. Totka, Marianne E. Weiss, Alissa V. Fial, Kathleen J. Sawin

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

This scoping review was conducted to examine the range, nature, and extent of the published family engagement literature specific to the pediatric acute care setting to highlight future research and practice development opportunities. Included studies (N = 247) revealed global relevance. Engagement strategies ranged from more passive such as allowing/encouraging families to be present at the bedside to more active strategies aimed at promoting mutual and reciprocal nurse–patient interactions. Family engagement is distinguished by a mutually beneficial partnership of families with health care team members and care organizations. Future research in the area of family engagement in pediatric nursing …

Beliefs About Safe Traffic Behaviors Among Male High School Students In Hamadan, Iran: A Qualitative Study Based On The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Vahid Ranaei, Alireza Sahab Jahanlu, Laleh Hassani, Ghodratollah Roshanaei, Kristin Haglund, Jagnoor Jagnoor, Forouzan Rezapur Shahkolaei

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Road traffic injuries are public health challenges with heavy economic and social burdens. Road traffic injuries are common in developing countries and occur disproportionately with adolescents. This study aimed to elicit beliefs about traffic behaviors based on the theory of planned behavior among male high school students in Hamadan, Iran. We used a constructivist-interpretive qualitative design with directional content analysis. Interviews were conducted with 19 adolescent males in Hamadan, Iran. Analysis revealed that theory of planned behavior fit well to explain how perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs influenced traffic behaviors. Perceived subjective norms in the forms of parental encouragement, traffic rules …

Developing Situation Awareness In Simulation Prebriefing, Amanda L. Potter, Kristina Dreifuerst, Aimee A. Woda

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

BACKGROUND:

Prebriefing before simulation is a recommended practice that increases learner satisfaction and improves performance. Promoting situation awareness through prebriefing facilitates optimal learning outcomes.

METHOD:

Endsley's Model of Situation Awareness is applied to the cognitive work of nursing practice that occurs during the prebriefing phase of simulation. Perceiving, comprehending, and projecting about elements of a situation lead to clinical judgement, reasoning, decision making, and ultimately nursing actions.

RESULTS:

Developing situation awareness in prebriefing is a supported process that connects learners' prior knowledge and experience with the needed knowledge, skills, and abilities in the simulation environment. These mental models become the …

Economic Impression Of On-Farm Research For Sustainable Crop Production, Milk Yield, And Livelihood Options In Semi-Arid Regions Of Central India, Sunil Kumar, Purushottam Sharma, Prabhu Govindasamy, Maharaj Singh, Sant Kumar, Hanamant M. Halli, Bishwa Bhaskar Choudhary, Muthukumar Bagavathiannan

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Farming system research (FSR) is on-farm research that brings cutting-edge agricultural technologies to growers to enhance farm production, family income, and livelihood status. In 2007, an on-farm study was started on FSR in central India, and the effect was assessed after 5 yr (2012–2013) of implementation by comparing adopters and nonadopters of FSR-based promoted technologies. Further, in 2018–2019, the status of adoption of introduced technologies was also assessed. The study revealed that improved practices such as pre-sowing irrigation, high-yielding varieties, and crop protection measures collectively improved the system productivity of the adopters by 28%; the improved productivity was mainly due …

Helping Nurses Identify And Report Sentinel Injuries Of Child Abuse In Infants, Elizabeth Cleek, Joan P. Totka, Lynn K. Sheets, Joshua P. Mersky, Kristin Haglund

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Sentinel injuries (SIs) are some of the earliest and most readily identifiable red flags of child abuse. SIs are unexpected bruising or intra-oral injuries in pre-mobile infants and highly correlated with child abuse. However, SIs are not always recognized and reported as red flags of child abuse. Infants are left at risk for continued harm when SIs are not identified and reported. Although increasing nurses' knowledge of SIs is important, child abuse researchers and behavioral theorists have identified that knowledge alone does not predict nurses' behaviors when identifying and reporting suspected child abuse. Other predictors may include implicit biases, interpersonal …

Childhood Obesity Within The Lens Of Racism, Nancy T. Browne, Eric A. Hodges, Leigh Small, Julia A. Snethen, Marilyn Frenn, Sharon Y. Irving, Bonnie Gance-Cleveland, Cindy Smith Greenberg

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Despite decades of research and a multitude of prevention and treatment efforts, childhood obesity in the United States continues to affect nearly 1 in 5 (19.3%) children, with significantly higher rates among Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour communities. This narrative review presents social foundations of structural racism that exacerbate inequity and disparity in the context of childhood obesity. The National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities' Research Framework guides the explication of structurally racist mechanisms that influence health disparities and contribute to childhood obesity: biologic and genetic, health behaviours, chronic toxic stress, the built environment, race and cultural …

Array Of Graphene Variable Capacitors On 100 Mm Silicon Wafers For Vibration-Based Applications, Millicent Nkirote Gikunda, Ferdinand Harerimana, James M. Mangum, Sumaya Rahman, Joshua P. Thompson, Charles Thomas Harris, Hugh O.H. Churchill, Paul M. Thibado

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Highly flexible, electrically conductive freestanding graphene membranes hold great promise for vibration-based applications. This study focuses on their integration into mainstream semiconductor manufacturing methods. We designed a two-mask lithography process that creates an array of freestanding graphene-based variable capacitors on 100 mm silicon wafers. The first mask forms long trenches terminated by square wells featuring cone-shaped tips at their centers. The second mask fabricates metal traces from each tip to its contact pad along the trench and a second contact pad opposite the square well. A graphene membrane is then suspended over the square well to form a variable capacitor. …

Causalmodels: An R Library For Estimating Causal Effects, Joshua Wolff Anderson

Computational and Data Sciences (MS) Theses

Free and open source software for statistical modeling and machine learning have advanced productivity in data science significantly. Packages such as SciPy in Python and caret in R provide fundamental tools for statistical modeling and machine learning in the two most popular programming languages used by data scientists. Unfortunately, robust tools similar to these are limited in terms of causal inference. The tools in R that exist lack consistent and standardized methodologies and inputs. R lacks a comprehensive package that offers traditional causal inference methods such as standardization, IP weighting, G-estimation, outcome regression, and propensity matching in one common package. …

Poultry Gelatin : An Alternative To Mammalian Gelatin, Pornpimol Mahamad

Halal Insight

No abstract provided.

Financial Hardship From Purchasing Prescription Drugs Among Older Adults In The United States Before, During, And After The Medicare Part D “Donut Hole”: Findings From 1998, 2001, 2015, And 2021, Anthony W. Olson, Jon C. Schommer, David A. Mott, Olajide Adekunle, Lawrence M. Brown

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

BACKGROUND: Cost-related nonadherence compromises successful and effective management of chronic disease. The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) aimed to increase the affordability of outpatient prescription drugs for older adults (older than age 64 years). The Medicare Part D prescription drug insurance coverage gap (“donut hole”) created by the MMA was fully closed in 2020 by the ACA.

OBJECTIVES: To (1) describe prescription drug coverage and financial hardship from purchasing prescription drugs among older American adults for 2021, (2) compare these results with findings from data collected before the MMA …

Speaker Diarization And Identification From Single-Channel Classroom Audio Recording Using Virtual Microphones, Antonio Gomez

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Speaker identification in noisy audio recordings, specifically those from collaborative learning environments, can be extremely challenging. There is a need to identify individual students talking in small groups from other students talking at the same time. To solve the problem, we assume the use of a single microphone per student group without any access to previous large datasets for training.

This dissertation proposes a method of speaker identification using cross-correlation patterns associated to an array of virtual microphones, centered around the physical microphone. The virtual microphones are simulated by using approximate speaker geometry observed from a video recording. The patterns …

Implications For Global And Local Visual Processing In Individuals With Learning Disabilities, Riya Mody

Psychology Student Papers and Posters

Visual processing in humans is done by integrating and updating multiple streams of global and local sensory input. When this is not done smoothly, it becomes difficult to see the “big picture”, which has been found to have implications on emotion recognition, social skills, and conversation skills in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other learning disabilities. Previous research in this field has aimed to direct ASD patients toward normative processing of the global features by developing and evaluating a filter which is intended to decrease local interference, or the prioritization of local details. This work attempts to utilize …

From Negative To Positive Algorithm Rights, Cary Coglianese, Kat Hefter

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

We consider this issue here and suggest that the current calls for a negative right to be free from AI could very well transform over time into positive claims that demand the use of algorithmic tools by government officials. In Part I, we begin by sketching the current landscape surrounding the adoption of AI by government. That landscape is characterized by strong activist and scholarly voices expressing a pronounced aversion to the use of digital algorithms—and taking a decidedly negative rights tone. In Part II, we show that, although aversion to complex technology might be understandable, that aversion is neither …