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Enhancing Heart Failure Transitional Care To Reduce 30-Day Readmission Rate, Thuy Nhu Uyen Tran

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Project Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project is to reduce 30-day readmissions for adult patients with heart failure (HF) by implementing a standardized HF pathway beginning in the intensive care unit (ICU) and continuing through discharge.

Background: The project was implemented within a large healthcare organization in Northwest Houston, Texas.

Methodology: This project utilized a pre- and post-implementation design guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model. Eligible adult patients (≥18 years) with a primary or secondary HF diagnosis were identified during March 2026. The My Pathway to Wellness HF education pathway was initiated at the time of ICU downgrade …

Full-Fat Dairy Milk Vs. Isolated Free Nutrient Blend On Postprandial Protein Metabolism And Inflammatory Markers In Adults With Overweight And Obesity, Takeshi M. Barnes, Zan Zupancic, Max T. Deutz, Andrew T. Askow, Colleen F. Mckenna, Jonathan A. Aguilera, Cassidy T. Tinline-Goodfellow, Alexander V. Ulanov, Jared W. Willard, Daniel W. D. West, Michael De Lisio, Daniel R. Moore, Nicholas A. Burd

Kinesiology & Sport Management Scholarship

Excess adiposity is linked to anabolic resistance by blunting the postprandial myofibrillar protein synthetic response to protein ingestion. Full-fat dairy milk may overcome this resistance via a matrix combining high-quality protein with anti-inflammatory lipids. Therefore, we compared the effects of ingesting full-fat dairy milk versus a non-dairy macronutrient match isolated blend on the regulation of postprandial myofibrillar and mitochondrial protein synthesis rates and markers of systemic (i.e., IL-6 and TNF-α) and muscle-related inflammation (i.e., NF-κB, NLRP3, TLR4, and MyD88). Twenty-two obese and overweight adult males and females (BMI = 31.1 ± 3.7 kg m−2; aged 35.3 ± 13.2 y) were …

Genetic Regulation Of Uterine Organogenesis, Diana A. Machado

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

In eutherian and marsupial mammals, the site of embryo implantation and gestation is the uterus. The precursor tissue of the uterus, oviducts, cervix, and upper vagina is the Müllerian duct epithelium and its adjacent mesenchyme. Morphological uterine variation between species is established during embryogenesis by species-specific differences in Müllerian duct fusion at the midline, growth, and differentiation. For example, laboratory mice have a bipartite uterus with two uterine horns and a single cervix, whereas humans have a simplex uterus with a single chamber and single cervix. In humans, variations in the fusion process can alter typical uterine morphology, correlating with …

Reduced Lower Extremity Strength, Altered Muscle Activation, And Unchanged Kinetics During Single-Leg Squatting In Males With Patellofemoral Pain Versus Pain-Free Males: A Cross-Sectional Analysis, Lisa T. Hoglund, Amy H. Amabile, Thomas Alexander Hulcher, Victoria K. Polansky, Erin L. Dopke

Department of Physical Therapy Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Patellofemoral pain is frequently a cause of reduced quality of life in physically active males. The cause of patellofemoral pain is theorized to include aberrant biomechanics during weight-bearing activities. Altered biomechanics of females with patellofemoral pain have been reported, but there is a dearth of research for males with this condition. This study aimed to compare males with and without patellofemoral pain for hip and knee joint moments and muscle activation during single-leg-squatting and proximal muscle strength.

METHODS: Twenty males with patellofemoral pain and 20 pain-free males aged 20-39 years performed single-leg-squatting while motion, ground reaction force, and proximal …

Assessing The Feasibility Of A Self-Management Intervention For Individuals With Advanced Prostate Cancer And Comorbid Type Ii Diabetes Mellitus, Amy L. Shaver, Christina Steinbock-Malfer, William Tester, Patrick Mille, William K. Kelly, Kevin K. Zarrabi, Costas D. Lallas, Mihir M. Shah, Rose Dimarco, Emily Brand, Shawntel Brown, Swapnil Sharma, Nikita Nikita, Cindy Cogen, Scott W. Keith, Grace Lu-Yao

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Many older adults with cancer have at least one comorbidity. Type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a common comorbidity among patients with prostate cancer (PC) and represents an important consideration in this population. Comorbid T2DM can negatively impact cancer-specific outcomes for patients, suggesting the need for better glycemic management, especially for patients on active cancer treatment. The goal of this modified Diabetes Self-Management Education Services (mDSMES) pilot study was to provide patients with the opportunity to learn methods of diabetes self-management, including how to manage their glucose levels, improve their understanding and utilization of medication to promote improvements in …

Multidimensional Determinants Of Gait, Balance, And Softball Performance In Female Youth: Biomechanics, Resource Access, And Psychosocial Factors, Allie G. Mcauliffe

Master's Theses

Movement quality is a fundamental indicator of healthy childhood development and supports physical, emotional, psychosocial, and cognitive well-being. Movement quality is influenced by multiple biomechanical, environmental, and psychosocial factors, yet the relationships among them remain poorly understood in underrepresented populations such as female youth, particularly in softball. Previous studies have largely examined biomechanics, resource access, and psychosocial experience independently, and few have investigated how these factors interact in female youth softball players. To address this gap, this study compared gait and balance characteristics between softball (N = 34) and non-softball (N = 7) female youth, examined associations between resource access, …

Economic Contribution Of The Agricultural Sector To The Arkansas Economy In 2024, Frank Seo, Luke Pullo

AAES Research Reports and Research Bulletins

This report is the nineteenth in a series that examines agriculture’s economic contribution to the Arkansas economy. The total economic contribution of agriculture (direct, indirect, and induced effects) on value added, employment, and labor income was estimated with the Impact Analysis for Planning System (IMPLAN) for the most recent year available, 2024.

Following Through Dialogues: A Chinese Scholar’S Reminiscence Of Professor Liah Greenfeld, Xinqi Jia

Comparative Civilizations Review

Ordinarily, a Chinese teacher of ethics who had never set foot in a Western country before the age of forty and a Jewish-American sociologist born in the former Soviet Union would have no reason to cross paths. Yet, throughout 2010, they spent an entire year in Boston in close contact. Should anyone someday write a biography of the late Professor Liah Greenfeld, this story alone would be excellent material for exploring how her theory has influenced the world, and how, as an outstanding theorist, she continually expanded the boundaries of our understanding of it.

Liah Greenfeld On Antisemitism As A Defining Characteristic Of The Monotheistic Civilization, Efraim Karsh

Comparative Civilizations Review

One cannot overstate the scholarly and intellectual loss occasioned by the untimely death of Boston University Professor Liah Greenfeld. Through her prodigious interdisciplinary research, Professor Greenfeld has established herself as one of the foremost social science theorists of our time and a worthy heir to the great firstgeneration nationalism scholars, in particular Eric Hobsbawm, Ernest Gellner, and Anthony Smith.

Was Love Invented In Sixteenth-Century England? A Few Comments On Liah Greenfeld’S Theory Of Emotions, Dmitri Panchenko

Comparative Civilizations Review

According to Liah Greenfeld, there are three kinds of emotions. Primary emotions (such as pain, pleasure, fear, positive and negative excitement, hunger, and satiation) and secondary emotions (such as affection, sorrow, and anger) can be observed in both animals and humans. However, most human emotions ⎯ tertiary emotions ⎯ are more complex. “These, though not unusual among our pets, do not exist in the wild. Tertiary emotions are emotions such as love, ambition, pride, self-respect, shame, guilt, inspiration, enthusiasm, sadness, awe, admiration, humility and humiliation, sense of justice and injustice, envy, malice, resentment, cruelty, hatred; one can go on almost …

Front Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Paleolimnology And Diatom Taxonomy From Lake Tanganyika, Sristika Adhikari

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lake Tanganyika is one of the world's largest freshwater ecosystems, supporting rich aquatic biodiversity and providing several ecosystem services to surrounding communities. Environmental changes such as rising lake surface temperatures, pollution, and land-use alterations threaten the lake’s sustainability. This research examines spatial and temporal variations in nutrient dynamics and primary productivity of Lake Tanganyika using diatom assemblages from multiple locations. Our findings indicate reduced nutrient levels and longer stratification periods in the lake’s central basin during most of the Common Era, as indicated by a remarkable increase in the relative abundance of long, needle-shaped planktonic Nitzschia species. In the southern …

Closer Than They Appear: Parasocial Relationships, Social Processes, And Emotional Intimacy, Paige Bedore

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Decades of research have attempted to clarify the mechanisms underlying parasocial relationships, or one-sided relationships. Yet, relatively little empirical attention has been given to the subjective experiences of intimacy that occur in these relationships or to making direct comparisons between social and parasocial relational processes within individuals. The present study aimed to address these gaps and to investigate whether selected variables associated with social relationships similarly predicted parasocial relationship strength. Adult participants identified both a meaningful social relationship target and a parasocial target before completing measures of relationship strength, intimacy, attachment style, and cumulative exposure for each relationship type. Hypotheses …

Defining The Value Of Elective Lumbar Fusion: A Systematic Review Of Existing Methodologies And Framework For The Operative Value Index, Advith Sarikonda, Anthony Chen, Theo S. Biddle, Danyal A. Quraishi, Preston Carey, Arbaz A. Momin, Matthews Lan, Dwight Mitchell Self, Ashmal S. Kabani, Ahilan Sivaganesan

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Despite wide variation in the outcomes and costs of lumbar fusion, few studies have integrated these domains together within a single metric to assess "value" (outcomes achieved per dollar spent). In this review, we sought to 1) characterize existing metrics of cost-effectiveness for lumbar fusion, 2) evaluate all applications of time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) in spine surgery, and 3) outline the conceptual foundation for a standardized Operative Value Index (OVI).

METHODS: Two PRISMA-concordant systematic reviews were performed on PubMed and Scopus databases. The first review examined all studies which reported a cost-effectiveness metric for lumbar fusion. The second review …

Parent Emotion Socialization And The Influence On Child Emotion Regulation In A Clinical Sample, Crystal Tracy

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to contribute to existing literature by examining parent emotion socialization (i.e., parent orientation to child emotion) and its influence on child internalizing symptoms. Prior research suggests that parent emotion socialization impacts child emotion regulation and internalizing symptoms; however, there is little research at present focused specifically on the influence of parent orientation to child emotion on child internalizing symptoms through child emotion dysregulation. This study adds to the literature by considering the association between parent orientation to child emotion and internalizing symptoms in a sample of children referred for an ADHD evaluation. Participants included 161 children ages …

Storm Surge And Tides In Convergent Estuaries: The Case Of Extratropical Storm Merbok In Alaska, Steven Dykstra, Stefan Talke, David A. Jay, Matthew Lobo, Silvia Innocenti, Pascal Matte

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coastal floods are composed of multiple drivers that interact with coastline geometries and are difficult to differentiate. To investigate the effects of basin shapes on storm surge and tides, we study the landfall of ex-Typhoon Merbok in the east Bering Sea, Alaska. Water levels at 34 stations are detided with a new tide wavelet tool, CWT_Multi (Lobo et al., 2024), and the spatial and temporal shifts in tides and surge are interpreted via long-wave theory. Results show nonstationary semiannual trends in tidal constituents due to ice effects and large interannual variability in mean-sea level (20-40 cm). After removing non-stationary tidal …

Bison Health Network Newsletter, August 2026, Bison Health Network

Bison Health Network News

Newsletter Content:

Updates
Network Demographics
Health Highlight: Biosecurity

Charting The Martian Future: Long-Term Space Policy Planning Of Nasa’S Human Spaceflight Program, 1957-1988, Angel J. Peralta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From the late 1950s to the early 1990s, NASA’s human spaceflight programs repeatedly encountered political and bureaucratic pressures that prioritized short-term interests over long-term planning. These constraints shaped the development of the Apollo, Space Shuttle, Space Station, and other human spaceflight programs, limiting NASA’s ability to pursue a sustained strategic vision. This thesis traces the evolution of long-term human spaceflight policy through documents and memos produced by advisory committees, research councils, and key individuals during this period. Despite shifting administrations and their respective politics, these sources reveal a consistent goal of human spaceflight ultimately leading beyond Earth to the Moon …

What Drives Blockchain Technology Adoption? A Meta-Analysis Across Tam, Tpb, And Utaut Frameworks, Amir Rahmani, Roohollah Ahmadi, Tugrul Unsal Daim, Mehdi Zamani, Dilek Ozdemir

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research on blockchain adoption has expanded rapidly, with most studies conceptualizing adoption as behavioural intention. Technology adoption models, such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), are commonly applied to explore blockchain technology adoption (BTA). However, empirical results from the 12 hypotheses associated with these models remain fragmented and, at times, inconsistent, with limited comprehensive quantitative integration. To address this gap, the present study performs a meta-analysis to evaluate the degree and direction of these hypotheses systematically. In accordance with PRISMA guidelines, 149 quantitative …

Lessons From The Club Homeschool Capstone: Testing, Data Discipline, And The Computer Science Curriculum, Shane Brown

University Honors Theses

This thesis looks at the CLUB Homeschool Capstone project to argue that Portland State University's Computer Science curriculum should introduce testing and data quality discipline earlier and more intentionally than it does now. As team lead of a seven-person team, I coordinated sprint planning, communicated with the sponsor, and developed custom Discourse plugins that enhanced an existing forum platform instead of creating a separate application database, as requested by the sponsor. The project's requirements document called for a formal testing plan, but our team lacked the practical experience to implement one. This gap became evident through my internships as a …

Ranger Ferdinand Castillo: His Life And Legend, David Carle

Eastern Sierra History Journal

Park Ranger Ferdinand Castillo welcomed visitors to Yosemite National Park from his station at the Tioga Pass gate for 38 years, from 1954 to 1993. The warmth of his greeting, which might include a serenade with his guitar, captivated thousands, a memorable moment. Using hitherto unseen documents and images, David Carle does justice to this public servant.

Managing Inventory In The Supply Chain, Matthew J. Drake

Open Education Materials

Inventory represents a significant investment for most organizations and enables its operations to fulfill customer requirements. Effective inventory management frees critical working capital that the organization can use elsewhere while making sure products and services are available for customers. This book discusses the fundamental concepts of managing inventory within the supply chain and also describes methods for making inventory decisions in a variety of business scenarios.

Evaluating The Motivations Of Participants In Online Equine Extension Courses, Sarah Vos

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Traditional program evaluations emphasize participant demographics, knowledge gain, behavior change, and program impact. However, evaluating participant motivation can provide addition insight into why participants enroll in extension programs and help explain participant engagement and persistence throughout a program. The purpose of this study was to evaluate participant motivation in two online equine extension courses and examine potential relationships between motivation, demographics, and course delivery method, and describe participant engagement in Virtual Horse Judging Camp (VHJC). This cross-sectional study utilized convenience sampling of participants in two online equine extension courses, Horse Adult Leader Training and Educational Resource (HALTER) and VHJC. The …

Iniciativas Transfronterizas Informe De Border Fellows 2025-2026, Elise Free Ma, Tori Luna Ma, Jonathan De Vicente Encarnación Mtro., Yolanda Viridiana Chávez Flores Dra., Korina Odet Cortés Uribe Dra., Jessie Valcin, Cristina Solano Díaz, Etienne Mulumeoderhwa Mufungizi Dr.

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

El Informe Border Fellows 2025–2026 documenta seis proyectos comunitarios realizados en la región Tijuana–San Diego en el marco del Programa Border Fellows del Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice. Desde la academia, la sociedad civil y el sector público, las y los fellows abordaron retos distintos atravesados por un mismo contexto: el tráfico de armas y la violencia armada contra mujeres y personas LGBTQIA+; la violencia juvenil y el riesgo suicida en una secundaria pública; la discriminación en una preparatoria federal con más de 4,300 estudiantes; la capacidad organizativa y los derechos lingüísticos de comunidades indígenas en Baja California; el …

Cross-Border Initiatives Border Fellow Report 2025-2026, Elise Free Ma, Tori Luna Ma, Jonathan De Vicente Encarnación Ma, Yolanda Viridiana Chávez Flores Phd, Korina Odet Cortés Uribe Edd, Jessie Valcin, Cristina Solano Díaz, Etienne Mulumeoderhwa Mufungizi Phd

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

The 2025–2026 Border Fellows Report documents six community-led projects carried out across the Tijuana–San Diego region under the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice's Border Fellows Program. Working in academia, civil society, and the public sector, the fellows addressed distinct challenges shaped by a common context: firearms trafficking and armed violence against women and LGBTQIA+ people; youth violence and suicide risk in a public middle school; discrimination in a federal preparatory school serving more than 4,300 students; the organizational capacity and language rights of Indigenous communities in Baja California; academic accompaniment for Haitian adolescents excluded from formal schooling; and intercultural …

Survival First: How Citizens Prioritize Competing Climate-Health Risk Countermeasures Under Fiscal Constraints, Katsuya Tanaka, Kazuhide Akaishi

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

When governments must allocate limited resources among competing climate-health countermeasures, citizen risk priorities determine political feasibility—yet whether those priorities translate into fiscal support remains poorly understood. This study develops a hybrid best–worst scaling and contingent valuation framework that integrates individual-level priority parameters into an acceptance model, enabling direct testing of whether preference intensity predicts willingness to pay. Applied to a largesample survey of residents in Yokohama, Japan—a rapidly aging metropolis facing escalating heat emergencies—the analysis reveals three findings. First, citizens exhibit a survival-first hierarchy, decisively prioritizing immediate protective measures over long-term structural interventions, with consensus varying sharply across countermeasure types. …

Staff Education On The Implementation Of An Evidence-Based, Suicide-Risk-Assessment Education Program For Psychiatric Staff, Yemurai Emily Dzikiti

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Suicide is a major public health concern, and consistent suicide risk assessment is essential for patient safety in psychiatric settings. This Doctor of Nursing Practice staff education project addressed a knowledge gap in evidence-based suicide risk assessment among psychiatric clinicians in an outpatient mental health setting. The practice-focused question examined whether an evidence-based suicide risk assessment education program would improve clinicians' knowledge from pre- to post-education. The educational intervention consisted of a 60-minute in-person training session on evidence-based suicide risk assessment using the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) and the Suicide Assessment Five-Step Evaluation and Triage (SAFE-T) framework. Ten psychiatric …

August 2026, Office Of Research

Research Update

No abstract provided.

Modulating Linear Frequency Modulated Pulses To Send Communications Data In A Bistatic Sar Scenario, Jarren T. Worthen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is the technology that enables the creation of images using radar waves, allowing images to be formed regardless of weather. In bistatic SAR a radar platform uses a radar pulse from a separate platform to form an image. It is important that these radar systems are able to communicate with each other. Rather than wasting energy and space flying with a separate communication system, the radar systems could use the already existing SAR system to send data between each other while still forming SAR images. The work of this thesis is to show how very simple …

Fibrous Protein Biomaterials: Characterization Of Solitary Bee Silk And Cocoons, And Development Of Recombinant Hagfish And Bee Silk Materials, Oran Wasserman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This dissertation explores two complementary aspects of fibrous protein biomaterials: the characterization of understudied naturally occurring solitary bee silk and cocoons; and recombinant expression and biomaterial formation of recombinant hagfish intermediate filaments (rHIF) and a single Osmia lignaria Say (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) silk protein. Some solitary bee species, which make up about 75% of all bee species, spin silk to construct protective cocoons during development. Despite the importance of silk and cocoons to the solitary bees' life history, their properties remain largely unexplored. This dissertation presents a novel method for isolating and testing individual silk fibers without interfering with the development …