Digital Commons Network^™

Integrating Spot-Scanning Proton Arc Therapy With Functional Avoidance Strategies To Reduce Pulmonary Toxicity, Yingxuan Chen, Peilin Liu, Xiaoda Cong, Edward Castillo, Richard Castillo, Inga Grills, Craig Stevens, Xiangkun Xu, Xiaoqiang Li, Yevgeniy Vinogradskiy, Xuanfeng Ding

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

Background and purpose: Functional avoidance radiotherapy has emerged as a promising technique using functional imaging to minimize pulmonary toxicity by reducing doses to functional lung. This study aims to investigate the potential dose-volume advantages of a novel spot-scanning proton arc (SPArc) therapy for functional avoidance radiotherapy with four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT)-based ventilation imaging.

Material and methods: Twenty-five patients from a prospective functional avoidance clinical trial treated with intensity-modulated photon radiotherapy were included. Robustly optimized intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) and SPArc plans were generated in RayStation. Functional lung contour was derived from the 4DCT-based ventilation imaging and utilized as an …

Polypropylene/Polyethylene Blends With Asymmetric Viscosity: Fabrication, Characterization, And Recycling Potential, Bernadine Daichendt

All Dissertations

Polyolefin materials, polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE), are widely used in day-to-day life both commercially and industrially, offering versatile applications due to their mechanical and chemical properties. The high consumption rate of these materials makes them important targets for recycling efforts. However, there are multiple contributing factors leading to low recycling of PP and PE, chiefly sorting factors: chemical similarity, changed properties after multiple rounds of processing, and the use of processing aids. It is necessary to point out that, because of multiple melt processing cycles, recycled PP has decreased molecular weight due to chain scission. Conversely, recycled PE molecular …

Degradation Of Cobalt Chrome Molybdenum Hip And Knee Implants In Vivo And In Vitro, Peter William Kurtz

All Dissertations

Cobalt Chrome Molybdenum (CoCrMo) remains a popular material choice for femoral condyles in total knee arthroplasty and for acetabular liners in dual mobility total hip designs. CoCrMo has been phased out of conventional THA designs due to its correlation with adverse effects such as ALTR and ALVAL. It is less understood if the mechanisms (i.e. abrasive wear to the surface of the implant) that release metal ions into the surrounding tissue occur at similar rates as seen in conventional THA. Additionally, it is unknown what effect the secondary damage modes such as electrocautery damage and adhesive wear have on these …

Power Distribution Controller For Formula Sae Vehicles, Michael Yuen

Electrical Engineering

The Power Distribution Controller (PDC) is designed for low-voltage (12V) automotive applications, specifically Formula SAE vehicles. It aims to replace the current and outdated MOSFET-based system, which suffers from inefficiencies such as lossy current sense resistors and limited configurability. Instead, this new system uses a PROFET-based architecture controlled over the Controller Area Network (CAN) and an updated microcontroller, enabling intelligent power management and data logging.

Designed with FSAE regulations in mind, the PDC not only enhances the reliability of low-voltage systems but also provides a quickly adaptable solution to fuse boxes. It achieves this by providing firmware-adjustable overcurrent protection, incorporating …

Do Need For Cognition And Need For Affect Moderate The Relationship Between Lecture Style, Learning Strategies, And Retention?, Mary Chapman

Dissertations

Boredom is detrimental to academic achievement. Using shallow learning strategies such as rote memorization is similarly unfavorable for success in academic settings compared to using deep learning strategies such as generating examples. Such is the consensus among scholars, but research conducted in both constructs reveals inconsistencies. The purpose of this study was to experimentally manipulate boredom and learning strategies to determine how boredom and learning strategies impact achievement, as well as to investigate whether certain individual differences, need for cognition and need for affect, change the relationships between boredom, learning strategies, and retention. In an online study, I recruited 131 …

Stayin’ Alive: Examining The Moderating Effect Of Suicide Resilience On The Relationship Between Sexual Minority Stress And Subjective Well-Being, Natalie A. Sachs

Dissertations

Suicidality among sexual minorities is concerning and results from increased social stress, societal stigma, and experiences of discrimination. The effects of sexual minority stress (SMS) lead to negative outcomes for sexual minority college students. The purpose of the current study was to better understand the role of suicide resilience in moderating the adverse effects of SMS among sexual minority college students. The following research questions and hypotheses guided this study: Q1 Does SMS have any effect on subjective well-being among college-student sexual minority individuals (SMIs)? Q2 Does SMS have any effect on suicide resilience among college student SMIs? Q3 To …

Overview Of Huntington's Disease And Emerging Treatment Strategies: A Narrative Review, Alexis J. Vega, Gabriel V. Hernandez, Pearse A. O'Malley, Connor J. Robin, Amanda N. Parra, Giustino Varrassi, Sahar Shekoohi, Alan D. Kaye

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant, progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by a cytosine-adenine-guanine trinucleotide repeat expansion in the huntingtin (HTT) gene. The symptoms of HD include severe motor dysfunction, cognitive issues, and emotional dysregulation. These combined issues are not only debilitating but also lead to depression/anxiety, increased suicide rates, and caregiver burnout. Our narrative review summarizes several recent studies examining the efficacy and differences among emerging treatment strategies for HD. A systematic search of peer-reviewed literature was conducted, focusing on recent studies that describe molecular genetic manipulation of the HTT gene/huntingtin protein. The results of our narrative review reveal …

Acculturation, Values, And Acculturative Stress For Autistic Latino Emerging Adults And Spanish-Speaking Parents Participating In The ¡Iniciando! La Adultez Program, Antonio F. Pagán, Miriam Ortiz, Erin Bernal, Katherine A. Loveland, Ana Esparza, Cecilia Montiel-Nava, Ron Acierno

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Latino families with emerging adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face unique challenges during the transition to adulthood, influenced by cultural values, acculturation, and systemic barriers. Acculturation and acculturative stress are particularly relevant in this population, as they navigate cultural adaptation while maintaining traditional values like familismo (family) and respeto (respect). These dynamics are further complicated by disparities in access to resources and culturally responsive interventions. This study explores the interplay of cultural values, acculturation, and acculturative stress among Latino emerging adults with ASD and their Spanish-speaking parents participating in a culturally adapted and translated intervention. Using a cross-sectional …

State Of Stroke Rehabilitation In Australia: A Who Stars Assessment To Identify Strengths And Gaps Across Policy, Practice And Funding, Lauren J. Christie, Erin Godecke, Maddison Smith, Katharine Scrivener, Kelvin Hill, Joosup Kim, Maria Crotty, Dominique A. Cadilhac, Angela Dos Santos, Natasha A. Lannin

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose of Review: Rehabilitation following stroke is a complex series of assistive and catalytic interventions enabling a survivor to recover and adapt to their stroke. To achieve adaptation, rehabilitation should supplement healthcare across the continuum, however comprehensive evidence on the provision of stroke rehabilitation in Australia is lacking. The aim of this paper was to describe stroke rehabilitation provision, collecting data using the World Health Organisation (WHO) template for rehabilitation information collection (TRIC). Data were analysed descriptively to complete the Systematic Assessment of Rehabilitation Situation (STARS) assessment. Recent Findings: Challenges include inadequacies in reporting and poor data integration between state- …

Desiccation Tolerance In Tetradesmus Green Algae, Kristen Patten

Theses

In the face of the global climate change threat, understanding the adaptations that organisms have evolved to handle environmental variation is of particular interest to scientists. With climate change impacting global water availability and increasing the risk of drought for many traditional agricultural areas in the United States (IPCC, 2014, IPCC, 2021, and Kuwayama et al., 2019), desiccation tolerance in vegetative states is one adaptation that is currently receiving a lot of attention. Green algae are particularly useful organisms for understanding this adaptation due to their ubiquity across environments, which has given rise to independently evolved organisms displaying different levels …

High-Dose Beta-Alanine Supplementation For Two Weeks Did Not Enhance Intermittent Endurance Or Sprint Performance In Trained Futsal Players, Hossein Miraftabi, Erfan Berjisian, Marzieh Nouri Dizicheh, Alireza Naderi, Masoud Bodaghi, Majid S. Koozehchian, Fatemeh Shabkhiz, Alvaro Lopez-Samanes

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: This study aimed to investigate the effects of a high-dose beta-alanine (BA) supplementation on physical performance, blood lactate concentration, and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) in trained futsal players. Methods: Sixteen trained futsal players participated in a randomized, parallel, double-blind experiment, completing a two-week supplementation period with either 12 g/day of BA (n = 8; age: 19 ± 2 years; height: 1.78 ± 0.03 m; body mass: 68.5 ± 5.4 kg) or a placebo (PLA) (n = 8; age: 18 ± 1 years; height: 1.74 ± 0.08 m; body mass: 65.6 ± 6.4 kg). Athletes completed the futsal intermittent …

From Familiarity To Loyalty: How Image And Emotion Shape Gastronomic Experience, Qian Chen, Qingchuo Zhang, Rong Huang, Jinhua Zhang

Plymouth Business School

Given the unique characteristics of gastronomic experiences, it is essential to understand how user-generated content (UGC) shapes consumers' perceptions of food-related images and their subsequent behavioural responses. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach to examine consumers’ cognitive and affective perceptions of gastronomy and their impact on loyalty. In the first phase, word frequency and sentiment analyses of UGC reveal that food-related terms appear most frequently and are predominantly associated with positive sentiments. Based on this analysis, three key dimensions of cognitive image are identified: food quality, culinary culture, and dining environment. In the second phase, a questionnaire survey explores the …

Definition Of The 3d Position And Motion Status Of The Moving Heart Based On 2d Projections, Lawrence D. Orijuela

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This thesis presents a novel application of deep learning to the estimation of pulmonary vein coordinates using X-ray image pairs from a FORBILD Thorax phantom derived motion dataset. A Siamese neural network was developed to predict the 3D coordinates of one pulmonary vein at a time, specifically the Right Superior Pulmonary Vein (RSPV), Left Superior Pulmonary Vein (LSPV), Left Inferior Pulmonary Vein (LIPV), or Right Inferior Pulmonary Vein (RIPV), based on two-dimensional projection images.

The input data consisted of over 1.6 million grayscale X-ray image pairs across 1331 virtual patients, each annotated with ground truth 3D coordinates. To manage memory …

Bilingualism Matters: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of California Language Policy, Benjamin V. Roath

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In June 1998, California voters passed Proposition 227, a ballot initiative mandating that all public school instruction be conducted in English, with over 61% approval. This policy imposed additional challenges on students with limited English proficiency (LEP), many of whom are immigrants or children of immigrants. At the margins of these political and educational agendas lies the issue of bilingual education. This study examines the role of bilingual education in multilingual contexts and critiques the continued reliance on monolingual frameworks that marginalize linguistic diversity. Focusing on Proposition 227 (1998) and its repeal through Proposition 58 (2016), the research explores shifting …

Bricks, Bushes, And Bones: Urbanization Influence On Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus Occidentalis) Morphology And Performance, Daisy P. Xiong

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

With increasing urbanization due to rising human populations, organisms may be forced to adapt rapidly to changing environments. Urbanization is replacing natural surfaces with more impervious substrates which can result in morphological changes affecting organismal locomotion, then also impact fitness. This study compares urban and natural habitat impact on Western Fence Lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) and their adaptations in such settings. We captured lizards from three locations in inland Southern California with both urbanized and natural habitats in order to compare the morphological differences between lizards, and then measured their performance to determine the possible impacts from their morphology. …

Nene Leakes As A Modern Medea, Jazzlyn L. White

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This paper examines how The Real Housewives of Atlanta functions as a modern form of Greek tragedy through its portrayal of Nene Leakes, whose rise and fall within the Bravo franchise mirrors the tragic arc of Euripides’ Medea. Both Medea and Leakes represent women who defy the systems that once empowered them Medea through her rebellion against patriarchal and familial structures, and Leakes through her public confrontation with the television industry that made her a star. By analyzing these two figures through rhetorical, feminist, and media studies frameworks, this paper argues that reality television operates as a contemporary stage …

Housing Programs And Resources Available For Transitional Age Youth Population: A Scoping Review, Amanda N. Esquivel

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Transitional Age Youth (TAY), are defined as individuals aged 16 to 24 transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. TAY face unique challenges in securing stable housing and developing the life skills necessary for independent living. This population often encounters significant barriers such as a lack of affordable housing, limited access to supportive services, and the residual effects of childhood trauma, systemic inequities, or time spent in foster care or juvenile justice systems. Without adequate support, TAY are at a heightened risk of homelessness, unemployment, poor mental health outcomes, and continued cycles of instability. This research paper explores and identifies effective housing …

Potential Adverse Effects On Lifestyle And Food Intake Pattern In Night Shift Workers, Stacie L. Coleman

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Abstract

Night shift work is prevalent in healthcare and other industries, yet its effects on lifestyle factors such as food intake, sleep quality, and mental health remain underexplored. This study investigates the impact of night shift schedules on nurses’ wellness, focusing on eating patterns, sleep, physical activity, and mood. A sample of 13 nurses were divided into two shift groups: day (n=5) and night (n=8); and they completed a questionnaire to assess the variables related to their behavior, food choices, eating habits, sleep patterns.

The results of previous research studies indicate that night shift nurses are more likely to adopt …

The Effects Of Green Orientation And Technological Agility On Sustainable Competitive Advantage Under Environmental Uncertainty: Organizational Agility As A Pathway, Sahilali Saiyed, Vimal Kumar, Abdul Waaje, Adi Prasetyo Tedjakusuma

Michigan Tech Publications

Despite the strengthened efforts on sustainability and technological activities by firms, the existing literature lacks a clear picture regarding how green orientation (GO) and technological agility (TAG) can be transformed into sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) and at what time the conversion process may be most efficient. This paper conceptualizes organizational agility (OGA) based on the resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capabilities theory (DCT) and hypothesizes that GO and TAG indirectly affect SCA with the mediating impact of environmental uncertainty (ELU). A moderated-mediation model was tested based on a sample of 200 managers (HR, marketing, accounting/finance, quality control, R&D) of auto-parts …

A Narrative Review Of Dual Loyalty Conflicts In Custodial Settings And Implications For Community Practice, Michelle Suh, Marc David Robinson, Holland Kaplan

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Dual loyalty dilemmas are conflicts between health care professionals' obligations toward their patients and third-party interests. These conflicts are more common and starker in custodial settings, such as jails and prisons, military detention facilities, immigration detention centers, and involuntary psychiatric institutions. Despite encountering patients in custody, health care professionals (HCPs) in community settings have limited knowledge and training. In this narrative review, we examined dual loyalty conflicts faced by HCPs working in custodial settings and then applied the identified themes to community-based hospitals where HCPs care for patients in custody. We searched databases for original papers relating to patients in …

Survey Of U.S. Reproductive Medicine Clinicians’ Attitudes On Polygenic Embryo Screening, Rémy A Furrer, Dorit Barlevy, Aayushi Gandhi, Shai Carmi, Todd Lencz, Stacey Pereira, Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Polygenic embryo screening (PES) is used to screen embryos for their genetic likelihood of developing complex conditions and traits. We surveyed 152 U.S. reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialists (REIs) on their views of PES. While most respondents (97%) were at least slightly familiar with PES, general approval of PES was low (12%), with the majority expressing disapproval (46%) or uncertainty (42%). A majority (58%) believed risks outweigh benefits, while only 16% felt benefits outweigh risks. Most clinicians (85-77%) were very or extremely concerned about low accuracy, confusion over results, false expectations, and eugenics. Nonetheless, when asked to vote on whether …

Performance Study Of A Woody Downdraft Gasifier: Numerical Investigation And Experimental Validation, Md Sanowar Hossain, Showmitro Bhowmik, Mujahidul Islam Riad, Md Golam Kibria, Barun K. Das, Sanjay Paul

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Biomass gasification is an established and widely utilized renewable energy system. The research work aims to develop and construct a downdraft gasifier to investigate gasifier performance. The gasifier’s performance and cold gas efficiency were calculated for three volumetric airflow rates: 7.16 m3/h, 5.97 m3/h, and 4.78 m3/h. The efficiency was found maximum of 69.6% for an airflow rate of 7.16 m3/h. The oxidation zone and neck region of the gasifier reactor had the maximum recorded temperatures of 845 °C and 823 °C for Swietenia macrophylla (SM) and Mangifera indica (MI), respectively. A two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for a …

Health Outcomes Of Sarcopenia: A Consensus Report By The Outcome Working Group Of The Global Leadership Initiative In Sarcopenia (Glis), Charlotte Beaudart, Julian Alcazar, Ivan Aprahamian, John A. Batsis, Yosuke Yamada, Carla M. Prado, Jean Yves Reginster, Dolores Sanchez-Rodriguez, Wee Shiong Lim, Marc Sim, Stephan Von Haehling, Jean Woo, Gustavo Duque

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The Global Leadership Initiative in Sarcopenia (GLIS) aims to standardize the definition and diagnostic criteria for sarcopenia into one unifying, common classification. Among other actions to achieve this objective, the GLIS has organized three different working groups (WGs), with the WG on outcomes of sarcopenia focusing on reporting its health outcomes to be measured in clinical practice once a diagnosis has been established. This includes sarcopenia definitions that better predict health outcomes, the preferred tools for measuring these outcomes, and the cutoffs defining normal and abnormal values. The present article synthesizes discussions and conclusions from this WG, composed of 13 …

Representing The Incommunicado Client: Regulating The Attorney-Client Relationship In A Civil Rights Emergency, Michael Kagan

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

When the government obstructs a detainee’s ability to communicate with attorneys, normal rules governing the formation of attorney-client relationships break down. While some work-arounds exist to allow lawyers to bring such cases to court, they have significant limitations and can create problems of their own. The legal profession and the courts should adopt new rules modeled on emergency medicine to facilitate the filing of urgent civil rights claims for clients who are not in a position to consent. In emergency medicine, physicians can presume client consent for certain narrow and urgent purposes. Certain lawyers, in extreme cases, should be able …

Weathering Of Black Doulas In Hospitals: Challenges And Opportunities, Denise Elaine Bolds

Education Doctoral

Black maternal health continues to face significant disparities in the United States, highlighting the crucial role of Black Doulas in promoting birth equity (Declercq & Zephyrin, 2020; K. Taylor et al., 2023). This qualitative, phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of 10 certified Black Doulas working in hospital settings nationwide. Guided by the weathering hypothesis (Geronimus, 1992, /2023), critical race feminist theory (Wing, 2020), Black feminist theory (Collins, 2000), Sojourner syndrome (Bailey, 2017), and the looking-glass self (Cooley, 1902), the study examined how systemic racism, occupational challenges, and advocacy fatigue intersect to shape their professional experiences.

Using semi-structured interviews, participants …

Few-Shot Anomaly Detection And Classification Through Reinforced Data Selection With A Combinatorial Reward, Xiaolei Hn, Depeng Xu, Shuhan Yuan, Xintao Wu

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Due to the scarcity of anomalies, deep anomaly detection models are typically trained in an unsupervised or semi-supervised manner, depending on the availability of a small number of labeled samples. Currently, most unsupervised approaches detect anomalies by identifying the deviant patterns from normal samples, and some semi-supervised studies also use labeled anomalies to improve performance. However, few studies have focused on how to take advantage of potential anomalies in an easily obtained and large-scale unlabeled dataset. Meanwhile, in a semi-supervised setting, although we assume there will be a small number of labeled anomalies, the task of anomaly classification is under-exploited, …

An Audio Data-Driven Roadway Digital Twin And Its Underlying Framework For A Digitized Transportation Construction Environment, Anisha Deria, Pedro J. Chacon Dominguez, Yong-Cheol Lee, Jin W. Choi

Michigan Tech Publications

The increasing need to build and maintain transportation systems has led project managers to manage multiple projects simultaneously. Roadway projects often entail several miles of job site, making it difficult to keep track of progress and maintenance activities. To improve the situation, this study proposes an audio data-driven roadway digital twin framework for real-time and remote monitoring of construction projects. The latent characteristics of a digital twin required for establishing a digitized work environment were investigated. As a primary method of seamlessly linking virtual and physical environments, audio data classified and analyzed by deep neural network (DNN) has been employed …

Per Se Non-Takings, Nestor M. Davisdson, Timothy M. Mulvaney

Faculty Scholarship

In the discourse on the Takings Clause, disputes over methodology have long formed a kind of proxy war, with per se rules ordinarily underwriting strong constitutional protection for property rights and ad hoc standards more often vindicating public interests. At a moment when the Supreme Court is increasingly embracing the rules end of this rules-standards spectrum, this Article offers a novel perspective to challenge the conventional link between categorical reasoning and classical liberal conceptions of constitutional property.

To do so, the Article excavates a vast body of law denying takings liability through rule-like reasoning, an approach the Article calls per …

Modular And Combined Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithms For Extraterrestrial Resource Prospecting, Gregory Hatfield

Master's Theses and Capstones

The success of future crewed and autonomous space missions hinges on effectively utilizing in-situ resources available in the extraterrestrial environment to sustain missions and habitation. Prior to extraction of resources, such missions will require robust and efficient methods for extraterrestrial resource prospecting. However, traditional global optimization techniques struggle with the complex and non-convex search spaces inherent to mapping and identifying resource deposits on extraterrestrial surfaces.

This research addresses the resource prospecting problem by developing and evaluating novel variants of the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Here, four novel algorithms, their variants, and four combined algorithms are rigorously tested and confirmed. The …

A Comparison Of Cultural Aspects Of Breastfeeding In The United States Vs Italy, Madison P. Wallace

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Healthcare systems internationally differ from policies, funding and resources available, and it is evident when comparing the United States and Italy. Participation in the Nursing Across the Lifespan study abroad program at the University of Arkansas Rome Center and Tiny Tusk Breastfeeding and Infant Support internship inspired a comparative exploration of breastfeeding practices in the United States versus. Italy. The United States has a mixed public- private insurance system, workplace policies and government assistance, while Italy has a universal healthcare system with a mandated maternal work paid leave to support breastfeeding mothers. Italy's program supports education and physical care needed …