Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Two Years Of Blended Learning On High School Students’ Mathematics Growth In An International School In Kuwait, Maya Bilal Hashisho

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Blended learning using a learning management system was implemented in a gender-segregated American school in Kuwait but not evaluated to determine instructional effectiveness. Thus, the purpose of this quantitative study was to compare student performance to determine to what extent there were differences in mathematical growth from Grade 8 to Grade 10 between male and female students who were taught with the traditional classroom approach versus those taught with blended learning in an international school in Kuwait where education is segregated by gender. Grounded in the substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition model, this quasi-experimental study involved using pre and post …

Nonprofit Leader Strategies To Retain First-Time Charitable Donors, Regina Goodrum Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

First-time donor retention remains a significant concern for nonprofit organizations, especially from rural nonprofit business leaders striving to maintain financial sustainability. These leaders care about identifying effective marketing strategies to retain first-time donors, as low retention threatens both their funding stability and their capacity to serve their communities. Grounded in single- and double-loop learning theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore marketing strategies rural nonprofit business leaders use to retain first-time donors to achieve financial sustainability. The participants included four different charitable nonprofit business leaders in South Georgia and South Carolina with successful experiences in …

Staff Education To Structured Bedside Handoff, Kevin Omwanghe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nursing bedside handover (NBH) strategies as a nursing practice is often implemented at the patient’s bedside to improve communication safety during the shift change. This practice is vulnerable due to inconsistent application among nurses. This staff education Doctor of Nursing Education project consisted of interviews with staff to explore the barriers to successfully implementing a bedside nurse handoff approach in an intermediate care unit and introducing a staff education program to increase staff knowledge of NBH. Ten registered nurses participated in this project. Results of the pre-education program survey revealed that 100% of the participants had participated in interviews related …

Title 1 Third-Grade Teachers' Experiences With Writing Strategies To Improve Students' Writing Proficiency, Kim Robertson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Third-grade students are not meeting minimum proficiency in opinion and informational writing, as determined by scores from the annually mandated Georgia Milestones Assessment (GMAS) in the 19 elementary schools in a local school district in central Georgia. Guided by Vygotsky’s social-constructivist perspective, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore Title 1 third-grade English Language Arts teachers’ experiences with using writing strategies designed to improve students’ writing proficiency on the GMAS in the Title 1 elementary schools in a local district in central Georgia. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with 10 third-grade teachers who were chosen from …

Effective Strategies Restaurant Owners Use To Retain Employees, Olivia Patriece Leonard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee retention is a persistent challenge in the restaurant industry. Business owners are particularly concerned because frequent staff departures can disrupt operations, increase training costs, and ultimately threaten business profitability. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry study was to identify restaurant owners’ effective retention strategies in Birmingham, AL. Data sources included semistructured interviews, public data such as disseminated reports and websites, literature, including books, and peer-reviewed articles. Thematic analysis of the data resulted in four themes: (a) compensation, (b) acknowledgment and rewards, (c) management practices, and (d) a positive working environment. A key recommendation …

Cryptocurrency Strategies For Small Enterprises, Ufuoma Omosebi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Due to their limited creditworthiness and growth potential, small enterprises (SEs) encounter significant challenges when securing their growth needs. SEs in Florida lack awareness, understanding, or practical guidance on cryptocurrency-based growth strategies. The purpose of the qualitative, multiple-case study was to explore the cryptocurrency-based growth strategies available to SEs in Florida. Rogers’s diffusion of innovations theory, Markowitz’s modern portfolio theory, and Thaler’s behavioral finance theory grounded the conceptual framework. Four participants identified through purposeful sampling as SEs in Florida used cryptocurrency in their enterprises. Data were collected using in-depth semistructured interviews. Five themes emerged from the six-phase thematic analysis: (a) …

Tolkien's Cosmology: Divine Beings And Middle-Earth By Sam Mcbride, Phillip Fitzsimmons

Faculty Articles & Research

Mythlore book review by Phillip Fitzsimmons.

Label-Free Evaluation Of Mouse Embryo Quality Using Time-Lapse Bright Field And Optical Coherence Microscopy, Fei Wang, Senyue Hao, Kibeom Park, Ali Ahmady, Chao Zhou

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The selection of high-quality embryos is essential to enhance the implantation rate for in vitro fertilization (IVF). Optical coherence microscopy (OCM) can noninvasively provide three-dimensional (3D) high-resolution imaging of developing embryos. The revealed microstructures can be used for accurate embryo evaluation. Here, we acquire time-lapse 3D OCM images with co-registered bright-field imaging on mouse embryo development from the one-cell stage to the fully hatched blastocyst inside an incubator. Our results demonstrate the capability of OCM to detect structural features of the developing embryos. The second and third embryonic cell cycles are indicated to be associated with blastocyst formation and the …

Integrated Analysis Of Molecular And Clinical Features Associated With Overall Survival In Melanoma Patients With Brain Metastasis, Swaminathan Kumar, Meredith S Pelster, Merve Hasanov, Renato A Guerrieri, Courtney W Hudgens, Fuchenchu Wang, Julie M Simon, Lauren E Haydu, Kalman V Katlowitz, Y N Vashisht Gopal, Jennifer L Mcquade, Lawrence N Kwong, Jason T Huse, Alexander J Lazar, Michael T Tetzlaff, Jeffrey E Gershenwald, Aron Y Joon, Ken Chen, Ziyi Li, Prahlad T Ram, Sherise D Ferguson, Michael A Davies

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Melanoma brain metastases (MBMs) are diagnosed in up to 60% of metastatic melanoma patients. Previous studies have identified clinical factors that correlate with overall survival (OS) after MBM diagnosis. However, molecular and immune features associated with OS are poorly understood. An improved understanding of the molecular and immune correlates of OS could provide insights into MBM patient outcomes and guide therapeutic development. Thus, we analyzed clinical features and outcomes of 74 melanoma patients who underwent surgical resection (via craniotomy) between 1991 and 2015 at our institution with RNA-seq data generated from their MBMs. The median post-operative OS was 8.6 months …

Single-Cell Analyses Reveal A Functionally Heterogeneous Exhausted Cd8+ T-Cell Subpopulation That Is Correlated With Response To Checkpoint Therapy In Melanoma, Kelly M Mahuron, Osmaan Shahid, Prachi Sao, Clinton Wu, Alexandra M Haugh, Lauren S Levine, Michael Alvarado, Markee Micu, Katy K Tsai, Melissa Chow, Meromit Singer, Jason M Schenkel, Arlene H Sharpe, Michael D Rosenblum, Kristen E Pauken, Adil I Daud

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PD-1 pathway inhibitors have revolutionized cancer therapy. However, most patients do not durably benefit, highlighting the need for biomarkers to stratify patients as responders or nonresponders. Although CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) have been associated with immune checkpoint therapy response, there is no consensus on which CD8+ TIL subpopulations have the most prognostic value. Preclinical studies have focused on progenitor-like exhausted CD8+ T cells (TPEX) because TPEX proliferate more in response to PD-1 inhibitors than other exhausted T-cell (TEX) subpopulations. However, immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment drives TPEX differentiation into other TEX populations that can mediate antitumor immunity. These data complicate the …

Comprehensive Assessment Of Initial Adaptation Of Extended-Spectrum Β-Lactamase-Positive St131 Escherichia Coli To Carbapenem Exposure, William C Shropshire, Xinhao Song, Jordan Bremer, Seokju Seo, Susana Rodriguez, An Q Dinh, Anna Konovalova, Cesar A Arias, Awdhesh Kalia, Yousif Shamoo, Samuel A Shelburne

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: It remains unclear how high-risk Escherichia coli lineages, like sequence type (ST) 131, initially adapt to carbapenem exposure in their progression to carbapenem resistance.

Methods: Carbapenem mutation frequency was measured in multiple subclades of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-positive ST131 clinical isolates using a fluctuation assay followed by whole genome sequencing (WGS) characterization. Genomic, transcriptomic, and porin analyses of the ST131 C2/H30Rx isolate MB1860, under prolonged, increasing carbapenem exposure was performed using 2 experimental evolutionary platforms to measure fast versus slow adaptation.

Results: All 13 ESBL-positive ST131 strains selected from a diverse (n = 184) ST131 bacteremia cohort had detectable ertapenem …

G-Protein-Coupled Estrogen Receptor 1 And Pregnancy Confer Protection Against Hypertension In Older Females, Chibundu Juliet Umunna, Eman Y Gohar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Awards

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Chronic Metal Exposure And Metamorphosis On The Microbiomes Of Larval And Adult Insects And Riparian Spiders Through The Aquatic-Riparian Food Web, Brittany G. Perrotta, Karen A. Kidd, Amy Marcarelli, Gordon Paterson, David M. Walters

Michigan Tech Publications

The macroinvertebrate microbiome controls various aspects of the host's physiology, from regulation of environmental contaminants to reproductive output. Aquatic insects provide critical nutritional subsidies linking aquatic and riparian food webs while simultaneously serving as a contaminant pathway for riparian insectivores in polluted ecosystems. Previous studies have characterized the transport and transfer of contaminants from aquatic to riparian ecosystems through insect metamorphosis, but both contaminant exposure and metamorphosis are energetically intensive processes that may cause host microbiomes to undergo radical transformation in structure and function, potentially affecting the host's physiology. We collected arthropods from three sites within Torch Lake, a historical …

Mapping Peatland Distribution And Quantifying Peatland Below-Ground Carbon Stocks In Colombia's Eastern Lowlands, A. Uhde, A. M. Hoyt, L. Hess, C. Schmullius, E. Mendoza, J. C. Benavides, S. Trumbore, J. M. Martín-López, Patrick Nicolas Skillings-Neira, R. S. Winton

Michigan Tech Publications

The extent and distribution of tropical peatlands, and their importance as a vulnerable carbon (C) store, remain poorly quantified. Although large peatland complexes in Peru, the Congo basin, and Southeast Asia have been mapped in detail, information on many other tropical areas is uncertain. In the Eastern Colombian lowlands, peatland area estimates range from 700 km2 to nearly 60,000 km2, leading to highly uncertain C stocks. Using new field data, high-resolution Earth observation (EO), and a random forest approach, we mapped peatlands across Colombian territory East of the Andes below 400 m elevation. We estimated peatland extent using two approaches: …

Biowaste Valorization: Integrating Circular Economy Principles With Artificial Intelligence-Driven Optimization For Sustainable Energy Solutions, Dina Aboelela Dr.

Biochemical Engineering

Biowaste, encompassing food waste and agricultural residues, poses significant environmental challenges while offering transformative opportunities. Traditionally relegated to landfills or incineration, biowaste is increasingly recognized as a renewable resource for producing biofuels, biochemicals, biomaterials, and animal feed. This review offers a systems-level analysis of biowaste characteristics, conversion processes, and derived bioenergy products such as biofuels, biogas, biodiesel, biohydrogen, bioelectricity, and other valuable chemicals. Diverse conversion methods are explored, including anaerobic digestion, fermentation, microbial fuel cells, pyrolysis, and gasification, alongside conventional practices like landfilling and incineration. Emerging analytical advancements are revolutionizing biowaste valorization. Artificial intelligence (AI) …

Analysis Of Pistachio Shell-Derived Activated Porous Carbon Materials For Hydrogen Adsorption, Setareh Elyasi, Nishar Hameed, Peter J. Mahon, Saulius Juodkazis, Alireza Keshavarz, Stefan Iglauer, Tawanda Matamba, J. Vongsvivut, Nisa V. Salim

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Developing efficient storage materials is critical for advancing the hydrogen economy. In this study, we aim to utilize plant-based biomass as a sustainable source for fabricating porous carbon (PC) and subsequently employing it for hydrogen adsorption. For the first time, we synthesize highly porous carbon materials from pistachio shells as precursor materials for efficient hydrogen storage. Experiments were conducted to chemically activate pistachio shells using two different agents, sodium chloride (NaCl) and potassium chloride (KCl), at varying ratios. This study evaluates the effectiveness of these chemical activation agents in enhancing the surface area of PC and, consequently, its hydrogen adsorption …

Healthcare Workers' Attitudes And Practices Around Environmental Sustainability In Infection Prevention., Ashley L. Lin, Michelle E. Doll, Rachel J. Pryor, Elizabeth Monsees, Priya Nori, Gonzalo M. Bearman

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

We assessed healthcare workers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices around disposable personal protective equipment (PPE) use. We observed that healthcare workers are interested in sustainable policies and identified areas for policy changes to reduce PPE waste.

K-12 Administrators' And Teachers' Perceptions Of Legal Requirements For Providing Inclusive Education, Rebecca Kay Berger

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

At a large school system in the northwestern United States, students who received specially designed instruction services at the middle school study site were not always included with nondisabled peers in general education classes to the extent possible. The theoretical framework guiding this study was Vygotsky’s social constructivist paradigm, which says shared experiences shape people. Using a mixed methods, nonexperimental research design, data were collected using a concurrent, embedded strategy using a pre- and posttreatment online survey with 17 teacher-participants for the pretreatment survey and 11 participants for the posttreatment survey. The treatment in this study was a district-approved professional …

Synapsin Condensation Is Governed By Sequence-Encoded Molecular Grammars, Christian Hoffmann, Kiersten M Ruff, Irina A Edu, Min Kyung Shinn, Johannes V Tromm, Matthew R King, Avnika Pant, Hannes Ausserwöger, Jennifer R Morgan, Tuomas P J Knowles, Rohit V Pappu, Dragomir Milovanovic

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Multiple biomolecular condensates coexist at the pre- and post- synapse to enable vesicle dynamics and controlled neurotransmitter release in the brain. In pre-synapses, intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of synaptic proteins are drivers of condensation that enable clustering of synaptic vesicles (SVs). Using computational analysis, we show that the IDRs of SV proteins feature evolutionarily conserved non-random compositional biases and sequence patterns. Synapsin-1 is essential for condensation of SVs, and its C-terminal IDR has been shown to be a key driver of condensation. Focusing on this IDR, we dissected the contributions of two conserved features namely the segregation of polar and …

Understanding Implementation Determinants Of Universal School Meals Through An Equity-Driven Mixed Methods Approach, Gabriella M Mcloughlin, Molly Kerstetter, Yerusalem Yohannes, Omar Martinez, Resa M Jones, Ross C Brownson, Jennifer O Fisher

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Policies, such as Universal School Meals (USM), are essential for preventing inequities in chronic disease risk among socially and economically marginalized populations. Implementing USM reduces food insecurity and obesity risk, among other academic/health outcomes; unfortunately, across the nation student participation (i.e., reach) is lower than expected, limiting its public health impact. Grounded in implementation science and health equity frameworks, this study aimed to: 1) investigate the determinants of implementing USM in a large, urban school district and 2) assess key challenges and supports across schools with varying levels of participation in USM.

METHODS: A needs and assets assessment was …

Mri Distance Measures As A Predictor Of Subsequent Clinical Status During The Preclinical Phase Of Alzheimer's Disease And Related Disorders, Xinyi Zhang, John C Morris, Tammie L S Benzinger, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Brain atrophy over time, as measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has been shown to predict subsequent cognitive impairment among individuals who were cognitively normal when first evaluated, indicating that subtle brain atrophy associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) may begin years before clinical symptoms appear. Traditionally, atrophy has been quantified by differences in brain volume or thickness over a specified timeframe. Research indicates that the rate of atrophy varies across different brain regions, which themselves exhibit complex spatial and hierarchical organizations. These characteristics collectively emphasize the need for diverse summary measures that can effectively capture the multidimensional nature of degeneration. …

Attitudes Of Female Carriers Of X-Linked Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia Towards Prenatal Treatment And Their Decisions During A Pregnancy With A Male Fetus, Holm Schneider, Michael Schneider, Massimiliano Lia, Dorothy K Grange, Smail Hadj-Rabia, Angus Clarke, Mary Fete, Agnes Jaulent, Marlene Guiraud, Anthony Odibo, Florian Faschingbauer

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (XLHED) is a severe genetic disorder that may be treatable with short-term protein replacement therapy during fetal development. This is currently being investigated in a multicenter clinical trial. Affected fetuses can be identified by the number of tooth germs during a routine ultrasound scan in mid-gestation. To understand the attitudes of female XLHED carriers towards prenatal treatment and ultrasonographic screening of the fetus, we analyzed an earlier and a very recent survey among those women and the actual decisions of potential trial participants.

METHODS: Initial analyses were based on a self-administered survey of 167 female …

Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteomics Identification Of Biomarkers For Amyloid And Tau Pet Stages, Zhibo Wang, Yuhan Chen, Katherine Gong, Bote Zhao, Yuye Ning, Meilin Chen, Yan Li, Muhammad Ali, Jigyasha Timsina, Menghan Liu, Carlos Cruchaga, Jianping Jia

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Accurate staging of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology is crucial for therapeutic trials and prognosis, but existing fluid biomarkers lack specificity, especially for assessing tau deposition severity, in amyloid-beta (Aβ)-positive patients. We analyze cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 136 participants in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative using more than 6,000 proteins. We apply machine learning to predict AD pathological stages defined by amyloid and tau positron emission tomography (PET). We identify two distinct protein panels: 16 proteins, including neurofilament heavy chain (NEFH) and SPARC-related modular calcium-binding protein 1 (SMOC1), that distinguished Aβ-negative/tau-negative (A-T-) from A+ individuals and nine proteins, such as …

A Screening Question To Assess Risk Of Using Antibiotics Without A Prescription: A Diagnostic Study, Marissa Valentine-King, Lindsey Laytner, Azalia Mancera, Roger Zoorob, Michael K Paasche-Orlow, Richard L Street, Barbara W Trautner, Larissa Grigoryan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objectives: Non-prescription antibiotic use (using antibiotics without medical advice) is potentially unsafe and promotes antimicrobial resistance. We studied predictors of prior non-prescription use and whether screening for prior non-prescription antibiotic use predicted intention of future non-prescription antibiotic use.

Methods: The survey was performed from January 2020 - June 2021 in six public primary care clinics and two private emergency departments. Prior non-prescription users were respondents who reported taking oral antibiotics for symptoms without contacting a clinician. Intended use was defined by answering yes to the question, "would you use antibiotics without contacting a doctor/nurse/dentist/clinic." We examined predictors for prior non-prescription …

Morphogenic, Molecular And Cellular Adaptations For Unidirectional Airflow In The Chicken Lung, Richa Nayak, Peter Y Lwigale, Ross A Poché, Jichao Chen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Unidirectional airflow in the avian lung enables gas exchange during both inhalation and exhalation. The underlying developmental process and how it deviates from that of the bidirectional mammalian lung are poorly understood. Sampling key developmental stages with multiscale 3D imaging and single-cell transcriptomics, we delineate morphogenic, molecular and cellular features that accommodate the unidirectional airflow in the chicken lung. Primary termini of hyper-elongated branches undergo proximal-short and distal-long fusions, forming parabronchi for air conduction. Through the parabronchial smooth muscle, neoform termini extend radially to form gas-exchanging alveoli. Supporting this radial alveologenesis, branch stalks halt their proximalization, defined by SOX9-SOX2 transition, …

Distributed Serving Of Partitioned Machine Learning Models Across Heterogeneous Hardware Resources, Vince Gatto, Junyan Li, Chi Chen, Hang Fu, Brad Froehle, Smit Hinsu, Devanshu Jain, Aniruddh Nath, Ruolin Jia, Shuo Chang, He Ma, Daokun Jiang

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for serving machine learning models by partitioning model components for distributed execution across heterogeneous hardware resources. In particular, the disclosure describes techniques for splitting models into independently executable subgraphs deployed across a cluster of machines with varying hardware configurations (e.g., CPUs, GPUs, TPUs). The system leverages the distinct strengths of different hardware types by mapping memory-intensive or preprocessing-heavy components to CPU machines, while assigning compute-intensive subgraphs to accelerators such as TPUs. The distributed architecture employs a runtime system that manages inter-machine communication and orchestration of inference tasks, enabling improved utilization, scalability, and …

Camera Captured Board Analysis Aids For Meeting Transcription And Post-Meeting Summarization, Jieyu Tan, Soya Li, Espen Berger, Hilary Liu

Defensive Publications Series

Presented herein is an approach for utilizing "board focus" techniques to extract information from attendees' handwritten notes during an online video conference or meeting. This approach can enhance the accuracy for generating meeting transcriptions (e.g., regarding language type, special terms, abbreviations, acronyms, etc. used during a meeting) and also meeting summaries (e.g., regarding structural element identification) as compared to conventional transcription/summary techniques that typically rely on audio streams.

Subsea Chemical Storage And Injection Systems, Baker Hughes Company

Defensive Publications Series

The conventional Chemical Injection System (with topside supply tanks and long Umbilical for delivering the chemicals to subsea components) has the following drawbacks:

• High CAPEX cost of the chemical injection system.
• Additional potential leakage in the long umbilicals.
• Longer response time.
• Requires larger chemical volume to fill the long umbilicals – adding cost and leakage risks
• Requires larger topside pumps in some cases in shallow water and long umbilical laying on the seabed.
• Does not use electrical control valves.
• Not consisting of Module Design – not a sizable system.

A system design is proposed to address the above requirement

An Autoethnographic Account Of The Dimensions Of Learning To Teach, Angela Reyes-Carrasquillo, Diane Rodríguez

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

This is a review of the book Navigating Teacher Education in Complex and Uncertain Times by Carmen I. Mercado. The volume offers an autoethnographic narrative of an innovative learning and teaching process in teacher training including her role as a professor responding to the needs of the urban diverse students and their families served. It is an ethnographic contribution where Mercado’s life and work are intertwined. Through a rich autobiographical account, spanning 40 years, Mercado theorizes from her experiences as a teacher and teacher educator, offering powerful lessons to teachers and teachers’ educators alike.