Digital Commons Network^™

Integration Of Community Health Workers Into Palliative Care Teams: A Scoping Review, Angela Kroeze Visser, Anne Pithan, Sabina Kupershmidt, Denyelle B. Kenyon, Susan E. Puumala

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Background:

Rural communities, like other places in the United States, face a growing need for palliative care. Community health workers (CHWs) are one potential way to expand the ability to provide palliative care. This scoping review explores what is known about CHWs involved in palliative care teams in the United States.

Objective:

This scoping review is intended to outline current evidence related to best practices and factors that lead to the integration of CHWs into palliative care teams.

Methods:

A scoping review was conducted between June 2022 and April 2023 using 3 databases (CIHAHL, ScienceDirect, and PubMed) to identify included …

Poured Out On Your Sons And Daughters: Pneumatologically Shaped Pedagogical Practices For Engaging Children In Congregational Worship, Angela Perigo, Jeremy Perigo

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

From young children to elders in the community, the Holy Spirit’s empowering presence is indiscriminate of age, ability, gender, culture, or status. Many communities continue to wrestle with the pastoral and practical implications of welcoming children into worship as full, distinct participants, yet within the biblical narrative, children are included as full participants in experiencing the Spirit’s gifts and empowerment and encountering God’s dynamic presence. Emerging from the discipline of practical theology and a review of New Testament pneumatology from Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 12, this paper argues for the full inclusion of children within the church’s worship life …

An Erp Study Of Attentional Blink And Inhibition Of Return, Caesar Ekya

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Attention can be allocated over time and space and it has long been speculated whether these are a part of the same or different attentional mechanisms. Attentional Blink (AB) and Inhibition of Return (IOR) are cognitive phenomena that are used in experimental settings to study temporal attention (AB) and spatial attention (IOR) respectively. Though known for being representative of different types of attention, they nevertheless display similar characteristics, making them intriguing choices to study the interplay between temporal and spatial attention. For this study we chose a dual-stream rsvp paradigm that would elicit both AB and IOR within the same …

Chatgpt Didn’T Write This: Evaluating The Impact Of Llms With A Case Study In Grading Cuny Language Immersion Program Student Essays, Benjamin Inbar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study evaluates the capabilities and limitations of large language models (LLMs), specifically OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o, in grading essays from students in the City University of New York’s Language Immersion Program. The program serves English language learners with diverse linguistic and demographic backgrounds, offering intensive language instruction to prepare students for academic success in college. Using a dataset of 30 pre- and post-program essays scored by program instructors and ChatGPT-4o under three paradigms, this research explores the alignment between human and AI-generated scores across five rubric-based competency areas. Findings reveal that ChatGPT-4o aligns moderately with human grading, with the strongest agreement …

Quantifying Educational Impacts Under The Nypd's Stop-And-Frisk Era, Matthew T. Stanton

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project examines the educational and economic impacts of the New York Police Department's "Stop, Question, and Frisk" (SQF) program, implemented predominantly under "Operation Impact" from 2003 to 2022. Using data from the NYPD and the American Community Survey, the study explores correlations between high rates of stop-and-frisk encounters and reduced educational attainment among targeted demographics, primarily Black and Hispanic young men. It contextualizes the socioeconomic consequences of SQF policies, including their effect on lifetime earnings and community trust. The project highlights the limitations of data correlation, advocates for further longitudinal and qualitative studies, and suggests frameworks for mitigating inequities …

Jamaica In The Olympics: The Rise Of Usain Bolt, Micaiah Davis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Summer Olympics is a global competition that encourages athletes worldwide to participate in various events. For many countries, especially smaller ones, it allows gaining national recognition for themselves and their country. This project offers insight into how an athlete's Olympic participation can impact their country and the event. Specifically, this project serves as intangible evidence that Jamaica has made an undeniable contribution to the sports world and its legacy by way of prominent athletes such as Usain Bolt. To that end, public Olympic data was analyzed and visualized in Tableau. The resulting visualizations are accessible through a website.

3bb: Loss And Remembrance In The Anthropocene, Amanda J. Woolsey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Undisputedly, we are living in a time of tremendous and unprecedented ecological loss. Various forms of life on earth are disappearing at a rate unheard of in human history, with a growing amount of evidence suggesting that we are in a period of mass biodiversity loss and extinction. This extinction event is marked by a series of environmental catastrophes that vary in acceleration, intensity, and impact, such as climate-change driven weather events wiping out an endemic island species, to habitat loss and fragmentation leading to the slow death of a once-common species. One such piece of supporting evidence is Rosenberg …

Freedom Pedagogy: Black Educators In The Urban North During The Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Centuries, Milagros Seraus-Roache

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Black educational history has been told through a predominantly Southern lens. This dissertation highlights the experiences of Black educators in the urban North during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Northern Black educators confronted the challenges of freedom—including the constant need to protect it—using a set of approaches influenced by the various intersecting social movements and intellectual currents of their day. While these educators represented a small minority of African Americans, their contributions were profound, leaving legacies that provide a lens for understanding and improving issues facing urban Black youth and their communities today.

In the absence of a comprehensive …

Investigating Dna Damage Caused By Reactive Oxygen And Nitrogen Species Via Guided-Ion-Beam Scattering And Computational Techniques, Jonathan Benny

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Among DNA nucleobases, guanine (G) is the primary target for one-electron ionization and oxidation, generating G●+ through various processes, including photooxidation, electrocatalytic oxidation, DNA-binding transition metals, ionizing radiation, and photolysis. This is due to the low adiabatic ionization potential and oxidation potential of guanine. Electron holes from other nucleobases can move to guanine, proving that G●+ production traps oxidative DNA damage. G●+ formation can exacerbate DNA damages and cause secondary reactions from reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) during pathological processes. The following three projects were conducted using a customized electrospray ionization (ESI) guided-ion-beam tandem mass spectrometer, …

Lishmah: An Exploration Of Syntactic Ambiguity And Biblical Exegesis Through The Jewish Calendar Year, Shani Tzoref

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Lishmah (Hebrew, meaning “for its own sake”) is a digital resource for exploring syntactic ambiguity in the Hebrew Bible and traditional Jewish biblical interpretation. Hosted on CUNY Manifold, it currently features twelve curated cases of syntactic ambiguity, each linked to a month of the Hebrew calendar, accompanied by annotated medieval Jewish commentaries.

The project employs digital tools for data compilation, presentation, and user interaction. While in its early stages, Lishmah aims to contribute to digital humanities by bridging traditional close reading with computational approaches and highlighting discourse analysis in biblical studies.
Future plans include developing Lishmah into a collaborative research …

Testing Toxicity: Two Approaches To Toxicity Detection, Nelson E. Jarrin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current online environment is increasingly being polluted by polarization, echo chambers, and a lack of constructive dialogue between individuals with differing viewpoints. Social media algorithms, while intended to personalize user experiences and marketing areas, have been heavily criticized for inadvertently amplifying extremist content and contributing to the spread of toxic commentary. The current state of the internet hinders productive conversations, fuels misinformation, entices disinformation and contributes to online and offline societal division. This is fueled by algorithms that can create echo chambers and by the anonymity given by online platforms. While tools like the Perspective API exist to identify …

Neural Processes Of Emotional Conflict Detection And Prediction Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Clusters In Traumatic Injury Survivors, Kaley E. Davis, Carissa W. Tomas, Kate E. Webb, Ashley A. Huggins, Terri A. Deroon-Cassini, Christine L. Larson, Jacklynn M. Fitzgerald

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Objective: Given the prevalence and significant burden of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), identifying early predictors of symptom development following trauma is critical. PTSD is a heterogeneous disorder comprised of distinct symptom clusters-reexperiencing, avoidance, negative mood, and hyperarousal-that contribute to the broad range of possible symptom profiles. Affective and attentional regulation processes, such as emotional conflict detection, are impaired in individuals with PTSD; however, the neural mechanisms underlying these alterations and their predictive utility for the development of PTSD symptoms remain unclear.

Method: Traumatic injury survivors (N = 49) without traumatic brain injury were recruited from the emergency department of …

Covid-19-Related Risk, Resilience, And Mental Health Among Mexican American Mothers Across The First Year Of The Pandemic, Amy L. Non, Elizabeth S. Clausing, Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo, Kimberly D'Anna-Hernandez

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Latina mothers have been especially affected by the pandemic and historically exhibit high rates of depression and anxiety. However, few longitudinal studies have assessed the effect of the pandemic on this vulnerable population. We hypothesized that COVID-19-related stressors would associate with psychological distress among Latina mothers across the first year of the pandemic.

Methods

We investigated COVID-19-related impact, stigma, and fears across two critical time points and changes in these measures in relation to changes in maternal anxiety and depression among mothers of Mexican descent living in Southern California (n=152). Surveys were administered within 5–16 weeks of …

The Common Law Of Constitutional Conventions, David E. Pozen

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Jill Lepore’s Jorde Symposium lecture paints a rich portrait of state constitutional conventions as engines of democratization during the 1800s and issues a dire warning about the United States’ ongoing amendment drought. Citing their unfamiliarity, however, Lepore declines to consider federal constitutional conventions as a possible corrective. In this response Essay, I argue: first, that Lepore’s marginalization of Article V’s convention mechanism is in tension with her own historical and normative account; second, that while Lepore’s wariness of conventions is entirely understandable given the state of our politics — and entirely commonplace among progressives — it carries significant risks …

Completing Icwa’S History, Joshua Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Scholarship

When the Supreme Court, in Brackeen v. Haaland, upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) — federal legislation making it harder for child family regulation (a.k.a. child protection) agencies to separate Indigenous children from their parents — it centered Congress’s effort to remedy a long history of unwarranted separations of Indigenous families.

Longitudinal Phage-Bacteria Dynamics In The Early Life Gut Microbiome, Michael J Tisza, Richard E Lloyd, Kristi Hoffman, Daniel P Smith, Marian Rewers, Sara J Javornik Cregeen, Joseph F Petrosino

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Microbial colonization of the human gut occurs soon after birth, proceeds through well-studied phases and is affected by lifestyle and other factors. Less is known about phage community dynamics during infant gut colonization due to small study sizes, an inability to leverage large databases and a lack of appropriate bioinformatics tools. Here we reanalysed whole microbial community shotgun sequencing data of 12,262 longitudinal samples from 887 children from four countries across four years of life as part of the The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study. We developed an extensive metagenome-assembled genome catalogue using the Marker-MAGu pipeline, …

Using Institutional Habitus To Position Colleges And Universities As Social Actors, Derria Byrd

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

In this article, derria byrd contends that more robust interrogation of the organizational contribution to inequity in higher education would be aided by understanding higher education organizations as social actors. Organizational social actor theory demonstrates that colleges and universities are more than inert contexts in which marginalized students' experiences and outcomes play out. They are entities that possess unique dispositional orientations, motives, and inclinations toward action. This conceptual article argues that engagement with institutional habitus, grounded in Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice, situates colleges and universities as social actors whose structural positions generate interests, beliefs, and behaviors that tend …

Agricultural Resources Conservation Fund (Arcf) 2025 Biennial Report Submitted To The Tennessee General Assembly, Tennessee. Department Of Agriculture.

Agricultural Resources Conservation Fund (ARCF) Biennial Report

No abstract provided.

The Cost Of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Care: How To Make It Sustainable, Jason Ken Hou, Gilaad G Kaplan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The rising global prevalence of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, underscores the need to examine current and future IBD care costs. Direct health care expenses, including ambulatory visits, hospitalizations, and medications, are substantial, averaging $9,000 to $12,000 per person annually in high-income regions. However, these estimates do not fully account for factors such as disease severity, accessibility, and variability in health care infrastructure among regions. Indirect costs, predominantly stemming from loss in productivity due to absenteeism, presenteeism, and other intangible costs, further contribute to the financial burden of IBD. Despite efforts to quantify indirect …

Identifying Mechanisms Of Action For Implementation Strategies Using A Retrospective Implementation Mapping Logic Model Approach, Emma E Saving

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Understanding causal mechanisms for implementation strategies is a priority for implementation and health promotion research. Logic models are helpful for understanding and illustrating mechanisms through which implementation strategies operate. Little guidance exists for developing logic models for existing implementation strategies. We demonstrate how to use Implementation Mapping (IM) in a retrospective manner to develop an IMap Logic Model for a social-emotional learning program implemented at Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston (BGCGH). To inform logic model development, we used qualitative interview data (from implementers) and conversations with program organizers. To develop the logic model, we specified the most accessible …

In Vitro Hydrolysis Of Areca Nut Xenobiotics In Human Liver

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Areca nut (AN) is a substance of abuse consumed by millions worldwide, in spite of established oral and systemic toxicities associated with its use. Previous research demonstrates methyl ester alkaloids in the AN, such as arecoline and guvacoline, exhibit mood-altering and toxicological effects. Nonetheless, their metabolism has not been fully elucidated in humans. In the present study, an HPLC-UV bioanalytical method was developed to evaluate the hydrolytic kinetics and clearance rates of arecoline and guvacoline in human liver microsomes (HLM) and cytosol (HLC). The bioassay was capable of quantifying arecoline and guvacoline (and carboxylate metabolites arecaidine and guvacine, respectively) with …

Mid-Life Anti-Inflammatory Metabolites Are Inversely Associated With Long-Term Cardiovascular Disease Events, Kevin E Kip, Justin Swanson, Oscar L Lopez, Ann Cohen, Mark Mapstone, Bing Yu, Christie M Ballantyne, Steven E Reis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Preclinical data have shown that low levels of metabolites with anti-inflammatory properties may impact metabolic disease processes. However, the association between mid-life levels of such metabolites and long-term ASCVD risk is not known.

METHODS: We characterised the plasma metabolomic profile (1228 metabolites) of 1852 participants (58.1 ± 7.5 years old, 69.6% female, 43.6% self-identified as Black) enrolled in the Heart Strategies Concentrating on Risk Evaluation (Heart SCORE) study. Logistic regression was used to assess the impact of metabolite levels on ASCVD risk (nonfatal MI, revascularisation, and cardiac mortality). We additionally explored the effect of genetic variants neighbouring ASCVD-related genes …

Leucine-Rich Alpha-2-Glycoprotein 1 Promotes Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Growth Through Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 3 Signaling, Daniel Martin, Masaru Miyagi, Wen Tang, Hao Feng, Yamu Li, Zhenghe Wang, Hallie Graor, Joseph Willis, Elizabeth Bryson, Christina S Boutros, Omkar Desai, Bianca N Islam, Lee M Ellis, Stephen E Moss, Jordan M Winter, John Greenwood, Rui Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background & aims: Therapy failure in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC, ∼80% occur in the liver) remains an overarching challenge. Preclinical studies demonstrated that human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3) promotes colorectal cancer (CRC) cell survival, but therapies blocking the neuregulin-induced canonical HER3 signaling have made little impact in the clinic. Recent studies suggest that the liver microenvironment promotes CRC growth by activating HER3 in a neuregulin-independent fashion, thus elucidation of these mechanisms may reveal new strategies for treating patients with mCRC.

Methods: Patient-derived primary liver endothelial cells (ECs) were used to interrogate EC-CRC crosstalk. We conducted proteomic …

Multi-Institutional Retrospective Study On Opioid Prescribing Patterns Of Oral And Maxillofacial Surgeons

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The opioid epidemic is a serious crisis in the United States. It has been proposed that opioid prescriptions after dental procedures are a major contributor to opioid use and abuse. The American Dental Association has been working to educate dental care providers about safe opioid prescribing practices. The authors hypothesized that oral and maxillofacial surgeons, following the efforts and publications from the American Dental Association, have been prescribing fewer postoperative opioids.

METHODS: This was a multi-institutional retrospective study with a total of 3,710 patients from Loma Linda University and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston undergoing ambulatory …

Vaxbot-Hpv: A Gpt-Based Chatbot For Answering Hpv Vaccine-Related Questions, Danniel Rhee, Lara S Savas, Licong Cui, Cui Tao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is an effective measure to prevent and control the diseases caused by HPV. However, widespread misinformation and vaccine hesitancy remain significant barriers to its uptake. This study focuses on the development of VaxBot-HPV, a chatbot aimed at improving health literacy and promoting vaccination uptake by providing information and answering questions about the HPV vaccine.

METHODS: We constructed the knowledge base (KB) for VaxBot-HPV, which consists of 451 documents from biomedical literature and web sources on the HPV vaccine. We extracted 202 question-answer pairs from the KB and 39 questions generated by GPT-4 for training and …

Plasma Proteomic Characterization Of Motoric Cognitive Risk And Mild Cognitive Impairment, Pascal Schlosser, Priya Palta, Kevin J Sullivan, Adrienne Tin, B Gwen Windham, Rebecca F Gottesman, Nir Barzilai, Sofiya Milman, Joe Verghese, Josef Coresh, Keenan A Walker

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Motoric cognitive risk (MCR) is a pre-dementia syndrome characterized by mobility and cognitive dysfunction. This study conducted a proteome-wide study of MCR and compared the proteomic signatures of MCR to that of mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

METHODS: Participants were classified as MCR using a memory questionnaire and 4-meter walk. We measured 4877 plasma proteins collected during late-life and midlife. Multivariable logistic regression related each protein to late-life MCR/MCI. MCR-associated proteins were replicated internally at midlife and in an external cohort.

RESULTS: Proteome-wide analysis (n = 4076) identified 25 MCR-associated proteins. Eight of these proteins remained associated with late-life MCR …

A Qualitative Assessment Of Changes In Occupational Exposures Among Healthcare Facility Workers, Laura E Mitchell, Inkyu Han, Jan-Paul Zock, Paul K Henneberger, Riddhi Patel, Joy De Los Reyes, George L Delclos

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Adult-onset asthma, notably prevalent among healthcare professionals, especially nurses, is often attributed to occupational factors such as exposure to cleaning agents. Studies consistently underscore the substantial role of such exposure in work-related asthma among hospital staff. We aimed to (a) identify and characterize current practices in cleaning and aerosolized medication administration; (b) assess changes in practices since a similar 2003 study of Texas healthcare workers; and (c) identify factors contributing to diverse exposures within healthcare job categories. We conducted focus groups with 38 participants in 6 healthcare settings, analyzing current practices, changes since 2003, and factors contributing to exposure diversity. …

Phase Of The Seabed Frequency-Domain Reflection Coefficient: Measurements And Modeling, Charles W. Holland

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The phase of the seabed frequency-domain reflection coefficient potentially contains valuable information on the geoacoustic properties in a layered/refracting seabed. However, heretofore, the phase has not been exploited. Measurements of phase are presented in an area of thick mud at the New England Mud Patch. In addition, a model is presented along with the modeling results. While this is only a first step towards understanding the potential value of exploiting the phase, it seems clear that in some instances, the phase not only contains valuable geoacoustic information, but carries a higher information content than the magnitude.

Introduction To The Special Issue On Verification And Validation Of Source And Propagation Models For Underwater Sounda), Kathleen J. Vigness-Raposa, Klaus Lucke, Michael A. Ainslie, Michele B. Halvorsen, Christ A. F. De Jong, Stanley J. Labak, Martin Siderius

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This joint Special Issue of JASA and JASA Express Letters focuses on underwater sound source and propagation modelling, both of ambient sound as well as sources of relevance to possible effects of sound on aquatic life, and corresponding acoustical metrics. Combining information on the sound field with information on a dose-effect relationship enables estimation of the potential effects. The Special Issue presents a collection of eighteen articles on the following topics: (1) verification of source and propagation models, (2) validation of source and propagation models, and (3) bioacoustical metrics for assessment of the risk of environmental effects. This special issue …

Regulation Of Artificial Intelligence In Healthcare: Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (Clia) As A Model, Dean F Sittig

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: To assess the potential to adapt an existing technology regulatory model, namely the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), for clinical artificial intelligence (AI).

Materials and methods: We identify overlap in the quality management requirements for laboratory testing and clinical AI.

Results: We propose modifications to the CLIA model that could make it suitable for oversight of clinical AI.

Discussion: In national discussions of clinical AI, there has been surprisingly little consideration of this longstanding model for local technology oversight. While CLIA was specifically designed for laboratory testing, most of its principles are applicable to other technologies in patient care. …