Digital Commons Network^™

Healing Circulos(Circles): Putting Our Educator's Mask First, Janet Martinez-Angeles

Dissertations

Educators play a pivotal role in supporting students throughout their educational journeys. In addition to academic instruction, they provide vital guidance for students' social, emotional, and personal development. They work tirelessly to help students navigate the complexities of education and life, often while shouldering multiple responsibilities and roles beyond the classroom. This dynamic contributes to high attrition rates and weakens the educational system. Much like the familiar safety instructions on an airplane, where passengers are reminded to put on their oxygen masks before assisting others, educators must be given the space, resources, and support to tend to their well-being before …

Early Care And Education Systems In The United States Of America: Voices Of The Past, Present, And Future, Timothy Harper

Dissertations

This mixed-methods study centers the voices, knowledge, and leadership of Black and Indigenous women working in Early Care and Education (ECE) while tracing how racism, sexism, and classism have shaped the field from colonization to the present day. Twenty in-depth interviews with sixteen Black and Indigenous educators across the United States are paired with secondary analyses of national workforce data to create a multilayered portrait of their professional realities. Grounded in Black feminist thought and Indigenous desire-based inquiry, the analysis surfaces six inter-locking themes: (a) enduring structural barriers that depress wages and limit advancement, (b) the day-to-day resilience that sustains …

Engagement Of Secondary History Social Science Teachers With Professional Development: A Phenomenological Study, Suzanne Paulazzo

Dissertations

Secondary social science teachers tend to feel disengaged and frustrated with their professional development (PD) experiences. They also feel that recommended meaningful practices appear to be time-consuming, require extra hours of preparation, and rely heavily on collaboration. Using phenomenological methodology, the dissertation research investigated secondary social science teachers' perceptions of their roles as educators, their professional growth, and their motivations for engaging in professional development opportunities. Nine male and one female teacher participants from a History-Social-Science Department in an urban public school in Northern California participated in an interview. This study addressed the following research questions: How do teachers perceive …

Teacher Workplace Bullying: Victim And Bystander Perspectives, Abigail R. Smurr

Dissertations

Workplace bullying is a phenomenon that is addressed within a broad context. This study focuses on teacher experiences of bullying. The focus will examine the impacts horizontal and vertical bullying can have on teacher victims and bystanders within K-12th within California. The purpose of this study is to give administrators awareness of these issues from the victim and bystanders’ lens. The study implemented a mixed methods design to give insight to teacher perceptions on the impacts it can have on their teacher efficacy, teacher retention, and their emotional well-being. By looking at how often PK-12th grade teachers experience workplace bullying, …

Resilience In Crisis: How Bipoc Educators Navigated The Challenges Associated With Covid-19, Racial Awakening, And The Move To Online Learning, Jannet Galicia Castrejon

Dissertations

An unprecedented number of BIPOC teachers exited the profession since June 2020 largely due to the challenges posted by the COVID-19 pandemic (Doan et al., 2024). This study aimed to investigate ways these educators coped with the heavy toll of the converging pandemic(s) by asking what, if anything, sustained them? Participants provided individual and group testimonios and shared snapshots of what it was like to teach and exist during this time via the photovoice methodology and reflected on the challenges and sources of support. BIPOC teachers described the following challenges: difficulty connecting with kids, first-hand and vicarious trauma, increased workload, …

Magnetic Reconnection In Space: From Two-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic (Mhd) Simulations To Three-Dimensional Particle-In-Cell (Pic) Simulations, Shan-Chang Lin

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Magnetic reconnection is a physical process in plasmas that converts magnetic energy into plasma kinetic energy and thermal energy. It plays an important role in the generation of solar flares, interactions between the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere, and magnetic confinement fusion devices. This thesis focuses on studying magnetic reconnection using computational methods, including two-dimensional (2D) magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations to study Petschek-type reconnection, estimating the timescale from a thin current sheet to fully developed reconnection using 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, and magnetic reconnection X-line spreading in the current direction using three-dimensional (3D) PIC simulations.

This thesis contributes to the understanding …

Anti-Nociceptive Properties Of Cardiopulmonary Baroreceptors In Patients With Chronic Back Pain, Yuto Iwakuma, Jennifer Liu, Davina A. Clonch, Megan E. Gangwish, Christopher M. Lam, Seth W. Holwerda

Student Publications

Introduction: Reduced pain perception following a persistent noxious stimulus during a study session (short-term habituation) is believed to be partially mediated by descending inhibitory mechanisms, although these mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. We examined the hypothesis that cardiopulmonary baroreceptor would significantly increase short-term habituation in chronic back pain (CBP) patients.

Methods: A short-term habituation protocol was utilized that involved 1-sec pulses (×10) at 105% heat pain threshold on the anterior forearm at 0.5 Hz. Cardiopulmonary baroreceptor unloading was performed via lower body negative pressure (LBNP) that reduces central venous pressure to elicit a reflex increase in sympathetic nerve activity. …

Subscapularis Ct-Scan Evaluation In Patients With Proximal Humerus Fracture: Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty Versus Hemi-Arthroplasty, Edoardo Gaj, Andrea Redler, Alessandro Maggiori, Susanna M. Pagnotta, Natale Criseo, Vikranth Mirle, Matthew Daggett, Angelo De Carli

GME Publications

Background/Objectives: Hemiarthroplasty (HA) and Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty (RTSA) are both reliable treatment options for complex proximal humerus fractures. The role of the subscapularis tendon is well-defined in HA, whereas it plays a controversial role in RTSA. The purpose of our study is to evaluate its role in patients with proximal humerus fractures treated with HA and RTSA and investigate its association with clinical outcomes. Methods: Sixty-eight consecutive patients with proximal humeral fracture were prospectively enrolled into the study from June 2015 to May 2020 (RTSA = 36; HA = 32). Pre- and postoperative shoulder CT scans were …

2025 July 24 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Deformation And Earthquake Potential On The North America - Caribbean - Cocos Triple Junction In Guatemala, Jeremy Maurer, Andreas Eckert, Qiaoqi Sun, Jonathan Obrist-Farner

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The triple junction between the Cocos (CO), North American (NA), and Caribbean (CA) tectonic plates in Guatemala is a region of high seismic risk and includes many large faults and historic earthquakes. Previous analyses of the tectonic system have been overly simplified, resulting in discrepancies between geologically derived and geodetic models of fault slip rate. This study leverages available geodetic, seismic, and geologic data to develop new strain rate maps and faulting models for the region. We find that locking on the regional faults matches historic reports of large earthquakes and that multiple minor fault segments are active and accommodate …

Unusually Preserved Benthic Foraminiferal Assemblages From The Lower Triassic Virgin Limestone Member, Moenkopi Formation, Nevada, U.S.A, Sara B. Pruss, Teagan E. Mcguire

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

The end-Permian mass extinction, the largest in Earth’s history, was so severe that biotic recovery was delayed for five or more million years. During the Early Triassic, ecosystems were populated by low diversity fauna, and the taphonomy of some fossil groups was reminiscent of Cambrian small shelly-style preservation. Herein we report a new assemblage of benthic foraminifera from the Lower Triassic (Olenekian, Spathian) Virgin Limestone Member, Moenkopi Formation in southern Nevada. Insoluble residues of carbonate samples produced >80 benthic foraminiferal tests, preserved as apatite- and iron oxide-internal molds. Dominant morphological groups include planispiral evolute forms, uniserial forms with round chambers, …

Staff Education To Improve Fall Prevention Practices In The Home Health Setting, Chinemelum Okoye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Falls among adults aged 65 and older represent a significant public health concern, as they are the leading cause of injury and hospitalization within this demographic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly one in four older adults experiences a fall annually, leading to over 3 million emergency department visits. In home health settings, the risk of falls is heightened due to uncontrolled environments and insufficient staff training. This quality improvement project assessed the effectiveness of an educational intervention aimed at fall prevention strategies for home health staff, including registered nurses (RNs) and certified nursing assistants …

Machine-Learning Driven Strategies For Adapting Immunotherapy In Metastatic Nsclc, Maliazurina B Saad, Qasem Al-Tashi, Lingzhi Hong, Vivek Verma, Wentao Li, Shenduo Li, Carol C Wu, Brett W Carter, Girish S Shroff, Tina Cascone, Xiuning Le, Yasir Y Elamin, Mehmet Altan, Simon Heeke, Ajay Sheshadri, Joe Y Chang, Percy P Lee, Zhongxing Liao, Don L Gibbons, Ara A Vaporciyan, J Jack Lee, Ignacio I Wistuba, Cara Haymaker, Seyedali Mirjalili, David Jaffray, Justin F Gainor, Yanyan Lou, Alessandro Di Federico, Federica Pecci, Mark Awad, Biagio Ricciuti, John V Heymach, Natalie I Vokes, Jianjun Zhang, Jia Wu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), either as monotherapy (ICI-Mono) or combined with chemotherapy (ICI-Chemo), improves survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, prospective guidance for choosing between these options remains limited, and single-feature biomarkers like PD-L1 prove inadequate. We develop a machine learning model using clinicogenomic data from four cohorts (MD Anderson n = 750; Mayo Clinic n = 80; Dana-Farber n = 1077; Stand Up To Cancer n = 393) to predict individual benefit from adding chemotherapy. Benefit scores are calculated using five distinct functions derived from 28 genomic and 6 clinical features. Our integrated model, A-STEP (Attention-based …

Minimal Ablative Margin Quantification Using Hepatic Arterial Versus Portal Venous Phase Ct For Colorectal Metastases Segmentation: A Dual-Center, Retrospective Analysis, Noreen S Siddiqi, Yuan-Mao Lin, Jessica Albuquerque Marques Silva, Gregor Laimer, Peter Schullian, Alexandra M Dunker, Kyle A Jones, Kristy K Brock, Reto Bale, Bruno C Odisio, Iwan Paolucci

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: To compare the predictive value of minimal ablative margin (MAM) quantification using tumor segmentation on intraprocedural contrast-enhanced hepatic arterial (HAP) versus portal venous phase (PVP) CT on local outcomes following percutaneous thermal ablation of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM).

Methods: This dual-center retrospective study included patients undergoing thermal ablation of CRLM with intraprocedural preablation and postablation contrast-enhanced CT imaging between 2009 and 2021. Tumors were segmented in both HAP and PVP CT phases using an artificial intelligence-based auto-segmentation model and reviewed by a trained radiologist. The MAM was quantified using a biomechanical deformable image registration process. The area under the …

Harnessing Facebook To Investigate Real-World Mentions Of Adverse Events Of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist (Glp-1 Ra) Medications: Observational Study Of Facebook Posts From 2022 To 2024, Amrutha S. Alibilli, Vidur Jain, Heran Mane Bs, Xiaohe Yue Ms, Alexandria Ratzki-Leewing Phd, Junaid S. Merchant Phd, Shaniece Criss Scd, Quynh C. Nguyen Phd, Rozalina G. Mccoy Md, Thu T. Nguyen Scd

Health Sciences Publications

Background:
In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the popularity and use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) for weight loss. As such, it is essential to understand users’ real-world discussions of short-term, long-term, and co-occurrent adverse events associated with currently used GLP-1 RA medications.

Objective:
This study aims to quantitatively analyze temporal and co-occurrent GLP-1 RA adverse event trends through discussions of GLP-1 RA weight loss medications on Facebook from 2022 to 2024.

Methods:
We collected 64,202 Facebook posts (59,293 posts after removing duplicate posts) from January 1, 2022, to May 31, 2024, through CrowdTangle, …

Union Employees’ Perceptions And Lived Experiences Of Organizational Culture And Job Satisfaction In Michigan Manufacturing Organizations, Angela Wantuck

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Manufacturing organizational cultures steeped in tradition, corporate loyalty, and paternalistic values have experienced a decrease in union employee engagement and organizational satisfaction. Manufacturing leaders are concerned with this decrease as a primary indicator of employee walkouts or union strikes, impeding the manufacturing process, and affecting market share, profitability, and local economies. The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenology study was to explore the union employees’ perceptions and lived experiences of organizational culture and job satisfaction in Michigan manufacturing organizations. Shaped by Schein’s organizational culture theory, the research question queried the perceptions of the union-represented employees as a subculture in the …

Quantifying The Economic Burden Of Cancer In California Using Advanced Analytics, Terence Casey Kelley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cancer imposes a significant and multifaceted economic burden on California’s health care system and communities. Despite extensive national data, California-specific cost analyses have been outdated and limited. This study quantified California’s cancer-care burden through a quantitative, cross-sectional design grounded in the cost-of-illness framework and human-capital theory. A retrospective modeling approach used 2015–2023 data from the California Cancer Registry, National Cancer Institute, National Program of Cancer Registries, and California’s all-payer claims database. California’s economic burden from cancer was estimated using a meta-analysis of national cost data, which was then applied to state-specific cancer incidence, prevalence, and mortality through a multicriteria decision …

Lived Experiences Of Leader Development And Action Inquiry In For-Profit Social Entrepreneurs, Kymm J. Nelsen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For-profit social enterprises (FPSEs) represent a growing response to urgent social and environmental challenges. Yet little is known about how their leaders develop internal capacities to navigate the tensions of hybrid business models. This interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) explored the lived experiences of FPSE leaders, focusing on meaning-making, developmental action inquiry, and leader evolution within profit- and mission-driven contexts. Rooted in ego development theory, developmental action inquiry, and the action logic framework, the study examined intrapersonal and systemic aspects of growth. Eleven U.S.-based FPSE leaders with at least 3 years leading a mission-driven enterprise and 5 years of total leadership …

Factors Associated With Maternal Health Care Utilization In Liberia, West Africa, Isaac Nyumah Yah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Extant literature reports increased uptake of maternal health care utilization in Liberia in the era following the 14-year civil war that ended in 2004. The purpose of this secondary quantitative data analysis study was to examine the relationship between women’s place of residence, women’s earnings spending autonomy, and maternal health care utilization of women ages 15–49 in Liberia. Maternal health care utilization in this study is measured by women’s visits to government hospitals for antenatal care. Maternal health care utilization indicates whether women who were pregnant within the 3 years before the 2019–20 Demographic Health Survey in Liberia attended any …

Graduate Student Paper: Aging In A Changing Japan: Gendered Adaptation To Changing Family Structure, Miki Izu, Clayton Chalmers

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Although Japanese seniors are very healthy, research shows that they are not very happy. Compared to seniors in other developed countries, Japanese elders have lower ratings of subjective well-being and are increasingly alone. This paper argues that changes to Japanese family life help explain why Japanese elders are struggling with low subjective well-being. Specifically, declining marriage rates and declining rates of elders living with their children (co-residency) have made it harder for elders to get the support they need. Moreover, the effect and the adaptations to these changes are not equal between men and women. While elderly Japanese men are …

Wildfire And Water Security: Post-Fire Erosion And Sedimentation Threaten Utah's Reservoirs, Quinn Olpin, Kendall Becker, Scott Hotaling, Aish Chandrasekaran, Patrick Belmont

All Current Publications

As an arid state with limited water, Utah relies heavily on reservoir storage to maintain its water supply throughout the year. This vital water storage, however, is increasingly at risk due to contemporary wildfires. Wildfires pose a risk to water storage because after vegetation burns, erosion typically increases. Eroded soil can be carried by rivers and deposited into reservoirs where it accumulates as sediment, reduces water storage capacity, clogs dam outlets, and degrades water quality. Identifying which watersheds are most vital to maintaining Utah’s water supply, are most threatened by wildfires, and are most prone to high levels of post-fire …

Anxious Traits Intensify The Impact Of Depressive Symptoms On Stigma In People Living With Hiv, Delfina Janiri, Flavio Cherubini, Paolo Vassalini, Letizia Santinelli, Gabriella D'Ettorre, Gabriele Sani, Giovanni Camardese

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background/Objectives: Despite medical advances, stigma remains a major challenge for people living with HIV (PLWH). This study examined clinical, sociodemographic, and psychological predictors of HIV-related stigma, and explored whether affective temperament moderates the impact of depression on stigma.

Methods: This cross-sectional observational study included 97 PLWH attending a tertiary infectious disease unit in Rome, Italy. Participants completed a battery of validated psychometric instruments assessing depressive symptoms, anxiety, manic symptoms, mixed affective states, general psychopathology, impulsivity, and affective temperament. HIV-related stigma was evaluated using the Berger HIV Stigma Scale, which measures personalized stigma, disclosure concerns, negative self-image, and concerns …

Evaluating Preference And Reinforcer Assessments For Distinct Social Interactions, Alecksandra Castaneda

Thesis Projects

The present study evaluated the efficacy of different assessments to assess reinforcer value and order of preference in regard to social interactions. A key component in this study was to expand on forms of social attention that have not typically been assessed, specifically non-physical. The lack of research in this area has led to an extension in understanding the effects of social attention in terms of reinforcement, as well as determining the optimal methods to do so. The researchers conducted a sequence of assessments across participants: concurrent operant reinforcer assessment, social interaction preference assessment, and multiple stimulus without replacement preference …

A Wachspress-Type Rational Characteristic Method For Solving First-Order Hyperbolic Equations, Mohamed Al-Lawatia

Sultan Qaboos University Journal For Science

This paper introduces a characteristic method for solving linear first-order hyperbolic partial differential equations in two space dimensions. The algorithm employs rational Wachspress-type basis functions applied to a hexagonal discretization of the domain, integrated within the Eulerian-Lagrangian Localized Adjoint Method (ELLAM) framework. The proposed scheme preserves the strengths of characteristic methods and delivers accurate numerical results, even with large time steps. Computational tests conducted on standard benchmark problems illustrate the effectiveness of the method.

Optimizing Thermal Performance Of Ag-Mgo/H2O Hybrid Nanofluid Flow In A Quarter-Circular Cavity Using Response Surface Methodology And Artificial Neural Network, M.S. Alam, M.N. Huda, M.M. Rahman, M. Al-Lawati

Sultan Qaboos University Journal For Science

This research analyzes the optimization of the thermal performance of the natural convective flow of Ag-MgO/H2O hybrid nanofluid within a quarter-circular cavity utilizing response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) techniques through a non-homogeneous dynamic mathematical model. The Galerkin-weighted residual finite element method numerically solves the governing dimensionless equations and boundary conditions. The numerical results are then used to train ANN and RSM models and evaluate their performance. The results indicated that both models are dependable for this investigation, exhibiting a notably high coefficient of determination for the performance control variable, the average Nusselt number. In addition, the …

Analysis Of Stress-Jump Condition On The Onset Of Thermal Convection In A Composite System Formed By An Anisotropic Porous Layer Underlying A Fluid Layer, Neetu Srivastava, Naveen Dwivedi, Ashok K. Singh, Nirmal C. Sacheti, B. S. Bhadauria

Sultan Qaboos University Journal For Science

This paper investigates the onset of thermal convection in a bounded system comprising a horizontal viscous fluid layer of infinite extent overlying an anisotropic horizontal permeable layer saturated with the same fluid. It is assumed that this system is heated from below and cooled from above in the presence of internal heat generation. It is also assumed that the material parameters, such as viscosity and thermal conductivity differ between the layers, and that the Brinkman model is used to describe the flow in the porous region. An extensive linear stability analysis has been performed with an aim to determine the …

Spreading Of Effluent Discharges From Two Adjacent Outfalls On A Sloping Seabed In Spring-Neap Tidal Waters, Anton Purnama, Ahmed Al-Kasbi, Easwaran Balakrishnan

Sultan Qaboos University Journal For Science

Coastal industrial plants dispose of their wastewater effluents into shallow coastal waters through sea outfalls. When two or more outfalls along a coastline are discharging, the long-term impacts are interdependent. Analytical solutions of two-dimensional advection-diffusion equations with a two-point source in a spring-neap oscillating tidal current on a sloping seabed are presented to study the far-field merging and interaction of two discharged effluent plumes in coastal waters. The elongated plumes are spreading towards the shoreline, and thus, asymptotic approximation is made to the analytical solution to assess the long-term build-up of effluent concentration at the shoreline. To show case the …

N-Fold Symmetric Quasicrystallography As The Projection Of The Affine Coxeter Group WA(BN), Nazife Ozdes Koca, Mehmet Koca, Ramazan Koc, Amira Al Maqbali

Sultan Qaboos University Journal For Science

Quasicrystals are obtained as the projections of higher dimensional cubic lattices. This paper aims to show that the affine dihedral subgroup Wa(I2(h)) of the affine group Wa(Bn), h = 2n being the Coxeter number, offers a different perspective to -fold symmetric quasicrystallography. The affine group Wa(I2(h)) is constructed as the subgroup of the affine group Wa(Bn), the symmetry of the cubic lattice ℤn. The infinite discrete group with local dihedral symmetry of order 2 operates on the concentric -gons obtained by projecting the Voronoi cell of the cubic lattice with 2n vertices onto the Coxeter plane. Voronoi cells tiling the …

Effect Of Rotation On Plane Wave Propagation In A Magneto-Thermo Elastic Solid, G Rajkumar, K Somaiah, Srinivas Remidi

Sultan Qaboos University Journal For Science

The present article deals with the effect of angular rotation on the propagation of plane harmonic waves in a homogeneous, isotropic magneto-thermo elastic medium. The governing equations of a generalized magneto-thermo elastic solid are formulated and solved with the method of plane harmonic solution. Three types of waves, namely, plane longitudinal, magneto, and magneto-thermal waves, are significantly affected by the angular rotation of the solid. It is very interesting to observe that the classical result is obtained as angular rotation vanishes. For computational purposes, the available lithium niobate (LiNbO3) material was treated as the model of thermo-magneto elastic medium. The …

Antibacterial Potential Of Tapanuli Orangutan (Pongo Tapanuliensis) Food In Batang Toru Forest Against Escherichia Coli And Salmonella Typhi, Herna Febrianty Sianipar, Wahyu Widoretno, Luchman Hakim, Rezi Rahmi Amolia, Fatchiyah Fatchiyah

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Diarrhea is a common disease affecting orangutans, primarily caused by Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi bacteria. To treat this disease, antibacterial food sources are essential as therapeutic agents for orangutans. The fruits consumed by Tapanuli orangutans include Campnosperma auriculatum, Agathis borneensis, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Castanopsis argantea, and Aglaia tomentosa. This study aims to examine the amino acid and phytochemical components with potential antibacterial properties in these five fruit species and their inhibitory effects on E. coli and S. typhi growth through cell lysis, observed using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The samples were tested for amino acids, phytochemicals, vitamin C content, …