Digital Commons Network^™

Enhancing Documentation Accuracy And Nurse Handoffs Through Virtual Reality In A Pediatric Perianesthesia Unit, Alicia G. Fregoso

Master's Projects and Capstones

Setting: The pediatric perianesthesia unit (pre-operative and post-anesthesia care unit). Problem: Gaps in perianesthesia documentation contribute to poor handoff communication, leading to adverse events and increased hospital costs. Additionally, inconsistent documentation reduces clarity and consistency during handoffs. Context: Staff in the microsystem reported low confidence scores with required OP-Time documentation, inconsistent workflows, and I-PASS handoff expectations. These factors contribute to incomplete charting and a lack of standardization across providers. Interventions: A two-part educational intervention was conducted, consisting of eight sessions. The first component is a Virtual Reality (VR) simulation that demonstrates an accurate perianesthesia I-PASS handoff. The second component is …

Improving Doula Visibility And Integration In The Labor & Delivery Unit Through The Implementation Of Creative Standardized Visual Strategies, Ninna Alessandra Arcena Acebedo

Master's Projects and Capstones

Objective: The 22-bed, Labor and Delivery (L&D) unit lacks a standardized model to introduce doulas, clarify their scope of practice, or communicate the value of the services they provide. To address this gap, the team implemented a standardized doula awareness poster that included each doula’s name, photo, years of experience, and personal interests. Aim: The goal is to enhance visibility and promote integration of doula support to strengthen team collaboration and patient engagement. Methods: A pre- and post- implementation survey was distributed exclusively to the volunteer doulas. After the doula awareness poster was displayed for four weeks, …

Increasing Nursing Staff Confidence And Documentation Compliance For Psychotropic Medication Use, Ei Chit Paing

Master's Projects and Capstones

Objective: Psychotropic medications place a high risk for side effects such as confusion, dizziness, falls, and death in older adults above age 65 (Seifert et al., 2024). Educational training on appropriate psychotropic drug use to nursing staff is linked to a decrease in penalties (Jung et al., 2021), side effects, and an increase in staff knowledge in caring for patients with behavioral and psychological symptoms (Pinazo-Clapés et al, 2020). Aim: Facility A in Northern California is currently non-compliant with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines for appropriate psychotropic use due to limited staff understanding of regulations and …

Stakeholder Criteria For Trust In Artificial Intelligence-Based Computer Perception Tools In Health Care: Qualitative Interview Study, Ansh Rai, Meghan E Hurley, John Herrington, Eric A Storch, Casey J Zampella, Julia Parrish-Morris, Anika Sonig, Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz, Kristin Kostick-Quenet

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Computer perception (CP) technologies hold significant promise for advancing precision mental health care systems, given their ability to leverage algorithmic analysis of continuous, passive sensing data from wearables and smartphones (eg, behavioral activity, geolocation, vocal features, and ambient environmental data) to infer clinically meaningful behavioral and physiological states. However, successful implementation critically depends on cultivating well-founded stakeholder trust.

Objective: This study aims to investigate, across adolescents, caregivers, clinicians, and developers, the contingencies under which CP technologies are deemed trustworthy in health care.

Methods: We conducted 80 semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of adolescents (n=20) diagnosed with autism, Tourette …

Measurable Imaging-Based Changes In Enhancement Of Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma After Radiotherapy Reflect Physical Mechanisms Of Response, Brian De, Prashant Dogra, Mohamed Zaid, Dalia Elganainy, Kevin Sun, Ahmed M Amer, Charles Wang, Michael K Rooney, Enoch Chang, Hyunseon C Kang, Zhihui Wang, Priya Bhosale, Bruno C Odisio, Timothy E Newhook, Ching-Wei D Tzeng, Hop S Tran Cao, Yun S Chun, Jean-Nicholas Vauthey, Sunyoung S Lee, Ahmed Kaseb, Kanwal Raghav, Milind Javle, Bruce D Minsky, Sonal S Noticewala, Emma B Holliday, Grace L Smith, Albert C Koong, Prajnan Das, Vittorio Cristini, Ethan B Ludmir, Eugene J Koay

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Escalated doses of radiotherapy associate with improved local control and overall survival (OS) in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA), but personalization remains limited because conventional size-based CT criteria correlate poorly with outcomes. We hypothesized that quantitative enhancement measurements would better predict clinical outcomes and guide individualized RT optimization. In a retrospective cohort of 154 patients, we analyzed pre- and post-RT CT scans using quantitative European Association for Study of Liver (qEASL) to derive viable tumor volumes, comparing enhancement-based metrics with size-based RECIST and linking them to outcomes via survival and mathematical modeling. Change in enhancement volume was strongly associated with OS after …

Nurses’ Voices In Prevention: Evaluating Enhanced Bedside Signage To Reduce Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries, Jorge Pinzon Figueroa

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

Objective: Hospital-acquired pressure injuries remain a patient safety concern despite standard practice of nurses’ prevention protocols (National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel, 2022). Barriers include: inconsistent two-hour repositioning, documentation burden, inadequate staffing, lack of visual cues of patient risk level, and inconsistent compliance with the overall comprehensive prevention bundle (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2023).

Aim: HAPIs occur within two adult medical-surgical and telemetry units at a tertiary hospital. In response, staff were surveyed on potential interventions, resulting in the production of a visual cuing system.

Methods: Pre- and post-surveys were conducted on the two medical-surgical units to assess …

An Axe To The Funny Bone: Curated Instability And Horror-Comedy Intersections In American Storytelling, Samantha Box

Masters Theses

Funny. Terrifying. Subversive.

Horror-Comedy twists and bites at the intersection of two incredibly reactive genres— with both Horror and Comedy being well known for the political and social discourses they embody and reinvent through story. While prevalent in American popular culture, scholarly analysis of this hybrid space barely exists beyond a small number of Film Studies investigations. Despite this lack, Horror-Comedy works continue to be successfully produced. This thesis unpacks the vibrant relationship between fear and laughter in contemporary American storytelling through Horror-Comedy, maintaining a focus on structural dynamics and the audience-disarming results of simultaneously applying horror and humor to …

Modern Technology Addiction: Developer Duty Of Care, Jonah Hampton

Honors College Theses

Technology addiction includes any frequent use of technology which interferes in the user’s life. The subject continues growth as an epidemic and research field, yet prior literature does not often analyze the role of technology developers. This study performs a literature and legal synthesis to evaluate user and company responsibility, implications of responsibility, and promising solutions. Post 2020 literature was selected for coverage on context, addictive features, effects, solutions, or perspectives on law. Legal examples from different addiction industries were also selected for analysis to understand previous precedents. The study found a pattern of addictive traits, persuasive design, and recurring …

There’S Cardio And There’S Cardio: How Fitness And Sexual Attitudes Relate To Needs For Approval And Loneliness, Isaac Robertson

Honors College Theses

This study looked to collectively investigate the relationships of both fitness/sexual activity attitudes with a need for social approval, while also determining if biological sex could play a role in either of these relationships. Additionally, loneliness and mental well-being were examined with the aforementioned variables. Predominantly white (82.5%) females (75%) data were analyzed after completing an online survey (N = 40). Significant relationships were found between fitness attitudes and a need for social approval in women only (r (28) = -.50, p = .005) and between sexual activity attitudes and a need for social approval in men only (r (8) …

The Effects Of Nanobubble Fertigation And Soil Conditioners To Improve Nutrient Dynamics, Soil Microbial Activity, And Chili Productivity, Betty Natalie Fitriatin, Euis Ahah Rokayah, Elsa Naila Elmyra, Tualar Simarmata, Nicky Oktav Fauziah, Hanif Fakhrurroja

Jurnal Kultivasi

Drip fertigation is a fertilization method that integrates nutrient delivery with an irrigation system, which is capable of optimizing the direct delivery of nutrients to the root zone. This experiment aims to investigate the effect of drip fertigation with nanobubble technology, and soil conditioners on the population of Phosphate-Solubilizing Bacteria (PSB) and Azotobacter spp., available phosphorus, total nitrogen, growth, and yield of red chili. The study used a Strip Plot Design with two factors and three replications. The first factor was nutrient application (solid NPK fertilizing as control; drip fertigation; and drip fertigation with nanobubble technology), and the second factor …

Effect Of Nano Edible Coating, Storage Temperature, And Packaging On Water Content, Weight Loss, And Color On Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus Ostreatus), Inneke Amalia, Warid Ali Qosim, Kusumiyati

Jurnal Kultivasi

Oyster mushrooms are one of the most commonly consumed mushrooms due to their high nutritional content, including protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, as well as their antioxidant properties. However, these mushrooms are easily damaged by microbes and poor post-harvest handling, which affects their quality. The combination of nano-edible coating, packaging, and storage temperature offers a solution to these issues. This study aims to evaluate the effects of nano-edible coating, packaging, and storage temperature on water content, weight loss, and the color (L*, a*, and b*) of oyster mushrooms. The study was conducted at the Horticulture Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas …

Lifetime Prediction Of Electrolytic Capacitors Under Variable Loadings In Electric Vehicles For Prognostics And Health Management Applications, Jaewon Lee

Electronic Dissertations and Theses, 2010-current

Aluminum electrolytic capacitors (AECs) are widely used in electric vehicles (EVs) power electronics but are also a primary source of wear-out failures. Most previously proposed lifetime models were derived under constant loading conditions and therefore cannot capture variable loading arising from seasonal or diurnal temperature swings and user-dependent driving profiles in EVs. This study develops a variable-loading lifetime prediction framework for AECs, which can be further extended to prognostics and health management (PHM). Collectively, the results of the study demonstrate a framework suitable for PHM application, in which SoD-based lifetime prediction yields reliable predictions under variable loadings. An appropriate lifetime …

Fayetteville State University Winter Commencement December 12, 2025, Fayetteville State University

Graduation Exhibit

Program for Fayetteville State University Winter Commencement December 12, 2025

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Monica Terrell Leach, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Fayetteville State University

More Than Just A Criminal: Talking Back As A Critical Autoethnographic Journey, Anakin Rivera Ramirez

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article explores the experiences of doctoral students with criminal records navigating higher education, using a critical theoretical framework to highlight the unique challenges and triumphs I faced. Drawing upon decoloniality and critical race theory perspectives and activism, I define my critical scholarship as challenging the dominant oppression through thoughts and actions. Through autoethnographic and self-reflective narratives, I reflect on how my lived experiences as a Latino who has experienced criminalization. I have shaped my academic pursuits and critical consciousness. The autoethnography discusses systemic barriers such as stigma, discrimination, and institutional biases, showing how these obstacles have informed the author’s …

Constructing Genotype And Phenotype Network Helps Reveal Disease Heritability And Phenome-Wide Association Studies, Xuewei Cao, Lirong Zhu, Xiaoyu Liang, Shuanglin Zhang, Qiuying Sha

Michigan Tech Publications

Background

Analyses of a bipartite Genotype and Phenotype Network (GPN), linking the genetic variants and phenotypes based on statistical associations, provide an integrative approach to elucidate the complexities of genetic relationships across diseases and identify pleiotropic loci. In this study, we assess contributions to constructing a well-defined GPN with a clear representation of genetic associations by comparing the network properties with a random network, including connectivity, centrality, and community structure. Then, we extend our discussion to include two applications of bipartite GPN in disease heritability enrichment analysis and phenome-wide association studies (PheWAS).

Results

We construct network topology annotations of genetic …

Multiple Oceanic Sources Of Alkylamines In Southern Ocean Atmospheres, Manuel Dall´Osto, Mark F. Fitzsimons, James Brean, Preston Chebai Akenga, A. Jones, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Ana Sotomayor, Elisa Berdalet, Dolors Vaque, Roy M. Harrison, Karam Mansour, Matteo Rinaldi, Stefano Decesari, David Beddows, Marco Paglione

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Measurements of pre-industrial conditions are of paramount importance for understanding historical climate change. The Southern Ocean and Antarctic continent are some of the least polluted environments on planet Earth. Alkylamines can rapidly partition into aerosols, increasing their mass, as well as form new particles altogether. We demonstrate the importance of pelagic “open ocean” (OO) and sympagic “sea ice” (SI) regions in supplying distinct organic nitrogen aerosol components. In the aerosol phase, dimethylamine (DMA) and trimethylamine (TMA) are both secondary, though DMA likely originates mainly from pelagic regions, while TMA is associated mainly with sympagic regions. Parallel measurements in ice and …

The Effects Of Bullying Victimization And Bullying Perpetration On Academic, Social, And Emotional Self-Efficacy Among Adolescents, Amber Crenshaw

Theses and Dissertations

Bullying remains a persistent challenge in schools and has been linked to diminished perceptions of capability across multiple domains. This quantitative, cross-sectional study examined how bullying victimization and bullying perpetration relate to domain-specific self-efficacy, academic, social, and emotional, among students in grades 4-12 in the southern United States. Students (N = 81) completed the Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument (APRI-BT) measuring victimization and perpetration across verbal, social, and physical behaviors. Students also completed the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C) measuring domain-specific self-efficacy. Analyses included descriptive statistics, internal consistency estimates, bivariate correlations, and hierarchical multiple regressions. Moderation by parental education and socioeconomic …

Assessing Water Quality And Algae In Wetland Reserve Easements In The Alluvial Valleys Of Mississippi And Louisiana, Avery June Wissmueller

Theses and Dissertations

Wetlands in agricultural landscapes play a critical role in improving water quality by retaining and transforming nutrients and pollutants. In the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV), widespread conversion of bottomland hardwood forests to row-crop agriculture has diminished this natural function. The Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) program restores wetlands on marginal farmland to recover ecosystem services. In this study, I evaluated water quality and algal productivity in WREs compared to natural reference wetlands and crop sites. Restored wetlands showed improved water quality compared to crop sites and were often comparable to or intermediate between reference wetlands. Seasonal variation and hydrologic differences shaped …

Understanding Acceptance Capacity And Intentions Of Mississippians To Participate In The Conservation And Management Of Black Bears In Mississippi, Basant Pant

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the acceptance capacity of Mississippians towards black bears (Ursus Americanus), and their intentions to participate in their conservation and management. It intends to bridge the theory and application of wildlife acceptance capacity among three main objectives. First, a systematic literature review of journal articles employing the Search, Appraisal, Synthesis and Analysis (SALSA) method revealed the development phase of Wildlife Acceptance Capacity (WAC)-conceptual phase (1988 -2000) and applied phase (post 2000), highlighting the strong scholarly collaboration among high human development index (HDI) countries with limited collaboration with the low HDI countries. Second, a mail survey of 4,080 Mississippi …

Effects Of Parenting And Differentiation Of Self On Career Identity Development In Emerging Adults, Benjamin Alexander

Theses and Dissertations

This work investigates how parenting styles relate to the development of career identity in emerging adults and whether differentiation of self helps explain those links. Using a two?manuscript format with a shared dataset of U.S. undergraduates (n =148), parenting behavior (i.e., warmth and control) was assessed alongside career identity constructs (career exploration and commitment); a second study added differentiation of self as a possible mediator of these relationships. Manuscript 1 examined whether parenting styles are associated with Marcia-based career identity outcomes. After deriving identity groupings consistent with achievement, foreclosure, moratorium, and diffusion, multinomial models indicated that more autonomy?supportive, high-warmth parenting …

Quantifying Benefits Of Biochar With Variable Absorption Capacity As A Partial Cement Replacement In Concrete, Benjamin Shannon

Theses and Dissertations

Extensive research has been conducted on biochar-incorporated concrete. However, no concrete mixture design guideline is currently available for implementing biochar incorporation in practice. The objective of this study was to correlate biochar absorption capacity with the compressive strength of biochar-incorporated concrete, to quantify the benefits of biochar and develop mix design guidelines. Biochar with varying absorption capacities was incorporated into concrete at 10%, 20%, and 40%. Strength and moisture loss were recorded over the 90-day curing period of the biochar-incorporated concrete. Results revealed three main findings: (1) in 10%, 20%, and 40% biochar mixes, the normalized strengths ranged from 0.65–0.85, …

Nuclear Transparency Of Photoproduced Rho-0 Mesons., Bhesha Raj Devkota

Theses and Dissertations

Photonuclear reactions using a real photon beam offer a unique opportunity to explore fundamental aspects of QCD within the nuclear medium. The experiment E12-19-003, conducted at Jefferson Lab’s Hall D in 2021, aimed to look for the transition from hadronic to partonic degrees of freedom and to explore the predicted QCD phenomenon known as color transparency in photons, mesons, and baryons. A key objective was to examine the transition of the photons from a resolved (hadronic fluctuation) configuration to a point-like electromagnetic probe. The experiment utilized liquid deuterium, helium, and carbon foils as target nuclei, which were probed by photon …

‘Cog In The Machine’ Or Social Being? How Digital Communications Affect Social Capital Development In Higher Education Institution Workplaces., Daphne Abigail Knox

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of digital communications on social capital development within the workplace in public institutions of higher education. While previous literature recognizes the potential implications of the internet on areas like social capital (Putnam, 2000; 2020) and formal and informal communications in organizations (Simon, 1997), an in-depth understanding of how modern digital communications impact social capital development is still necessary to address the gap in literature and to analyze the impact of digital communications on the development of organizational social capital. The potential implications of this work on scholarly research include expanding …

Study Of Insect Frass-Associated Microbiome On Plant Growth And Their Potential Use As Biofertilizer, Jasmine Sahota

Theses and Dissertations

An increasing global food demand and the urgent need for sustainable agricultural practices have driven interest in insects as alternative feed and food sources. Insect frass, a by-product of insect rearing, represents a rich organic carbon source with diverse microbes that can enhance soil health and promote beneficial plant-microbe interactions. This study characterized the bacterial (16S-V4) and fungal (ITS2) microbiomes of frass from Black Soldier Fly (BSF) and Cricket species and evaluated their effects on maize (Zea mays) growth. Four frass variants were applied at rates of 56-280 kg ha⁻¹ in a pot experiment with untreated soil and mineral fertilizer …

Development And Validation Of A Machine-Learned Actuator Line Model For Rotors, Joshua L. Bowman

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation develops and validates a machine‑learned (ML) actuator line model (ALM) as an advancement in rotor modeling that can be applied to diverse engineering applications. The model addresses two standard ALM limitations: dependence on pre‑tabulated lift and drag coefficients and the inability to represent unsteady inflow. The ML‑ALM is trained on a hydrokinetic blade‑resolved simulation database of blade‑element forces under unsteady conditions, and is queried at run time to supply axial, tangential, and spanwise forcing at each actuator element. Validation covers solitary rotor performance and wake predictions against experimental data, and verification in an inline configuration against blade‑resolved simulations …

Lecun-Pso Hybrid Initialization Of Neural Network Using Asymmetric Gait Features For Classification Of Parkinson’S Disease, Michael Joseph Carter

Theses and Dissertations

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex condition with a wide range of clinical symptoms. It is a progressive neurological disorder that has afflicted an estimated 1 million people in the US and 10 million worldwide. The diagnosis of PD is typically based on the presence of clinical features, with no specific diagnostic test or biomarker. The methods of assessment for PD are also used, in whole or in part, for similar symptom diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Essential Tremors, Multiple System Atrophy, Supranuclear Palsy, Dementia with Lewy bodies and Huntington’s disease. Many of the current clinical tests have low sensitivity …

Physics-Informed Neural Network For Maximum Detectable Distance Estimation In Mobile Gamma Spectrometry, Nancy A. Ibrahim

Theses and Dissertations

Accurate estimation of the Maximum Detectable Distance (MDD) is critical for environmental remediation, nuclear incident response, and public safety. Conventional approaches assume stationary detectors and rely on computationally intensive simulations, limiting their applicability for mobile, real-time surveys. Mobile gamma spectrometry introduces additional complexities due to detector motion, variable acquisition times, and heterogeneous backgrounds. This study addresses the central question of how effectively a Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN) can estimate MDD for mobile gamma spectrometry, while maintaining both accuracy and computational efficiency under dynamically changing environmental conditions. A multi-phase approach was employed, combining field data collection, computational modeling, and operational tool …

Nanocarbons For Electrodes And Electrolytes Of Sustainable And Solid-State Energy Storage Systems: Materials, Electrochemical Characterization, And Lifecycle Analysis, Ridwan Tobi Ayinla

Theses and Dissertations

The growing global demand for clean, efficient, and scalable energy storage technologies has intensified the search for sustainable alternatives to conventional battery and supercapacitor systems. Traditional electrochemical energy storage devices often rely on finite and environmentally harmful materials, toxic electrolytes, and rigid architectures that limit their applicability in emerging domains such as flexible electronics and wearable technologies. Additionally, the leakage of liquid electrolytes poses a persistent safety and reliability challenge, particularly for long-term and real-world applications. This research addresses these pressing challenges by developing a new class of green, flexible, and high-performance electrochemical energy storage systems using bio-derived materials. The …

A Case Study On Redesigning Classroom Activities And Assessments For Generation Z Students, Sushma Shrinivasan

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the dynamic interplay between pedagogical strategies, learner diversity, and emerging educational technologies through three interconnected studies. Study 1 compares Traditional instruction, Problem-Based Learning (PBL), and Simulation-Based Learning (SBL), revealing that while PBL and SBL enhance student performance—particularly PBL—their impact on perceived learning varies. Notably, SBL reduced perceived learning despite strong outcomes, underscoring the affective and metacognitive complexities of active learning. Study 2 examines the role of demographic factors such as gender, ethnicity, employment, and first-generation status, finding no significant main effects but identifying a key two-way and three-way interactions, suggesting that instructional effectiveness is influenced by the …

Development And Evaluation Of Wireless Monitoring Systems For Touchless Respiratory Monitor Validation, Dustin Marquardt

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The Touchless Respiratory Monitor (TRM) is a non-invasive system that uses contactless methods to measure respiratory rate and tidal volume. The main technologies employed are LiDAR for tidal volume measurement and a thermal camera for respiratory rate monitoring. These novel methods require validation against established techniques such as capnometry and respiratory inductance plethysmography. Commercial respiratory monitoring equipment is often expensive and dependent on proprietary software, creating barriers to widespread use. To address this, a custom, modular, and low-cost evaluation system was developed to streamline the validation of the TRM. The prototype system integrates a pulse oximeter, capnometer, spirometer, and respiratory …