Digital Commons Network^™

+Cd49a+Cd103+ Cytotoxic Tissue-Resident Natural Killer Cells Infiltrate And Control Solid Epithelial Tumor Growth In Mice, Nina B Horowitz, Jennifer A Foltz, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Human tissue-resident natural killer (NK) cells (trNK cells), broadly defined by markers of tissue residency, such as CD49a [

Genealogy-Based Trait Association With Locater Boosts Power At Loci With Allelic Heterogeneity, Xinxin Wang, Ryan Christ, Erica Young, Chul Joo Kang, Indraniel Das, Edward A Belter, Markku Laakso, Louis J M Aslett, David Steinsaltz, Nathan O Stitziel, Ira M Hall

2020-Current year OA Pubs

A key methodological challenge for genome-wide association studies is how to leverage haplotype diversity and allelic heterogeneity to improve trait association power, especially in noncoding regions where it is difficult to predict variant impacts and define functional units for variant aggregation. Genealogy-based association methods have the potential to bridge this gap by testing combinations of common and rare haplotypes based purely on their ancestral relationships. In parallel work, we have developed an efficient local ancestry inference engine and a novel statistical method (LOCATER) for combining signals present on different branches of a locus-specific haplotype tree. Here, we develop a genome-wide …

Applying User-Centered Design To Develop A Culturally Sensitive, Low-Calorie Meal Plan For Enhancing Dietary Behavioral Control In Masld, Ivonne Arguelles, Crystal Arguelles, Terri L Fletcher, Natalia I Heredia, Myriam Ibarra, Anna Christine Rome

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Dietary changes are essential for managing metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), yet patients often face barriers related to knowledge, skills, cost, time, and cultural fit.

Aims: The purpose of this paper is to report a process for culturally tailoring a dietary intervention and its application to create a calorie-restricted meal plan for Mexican and Central American patients with MASLD. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior and user-centered design, we produced a culturally tailored seven-day structured meal plan aligned with dietary guidelines for MASLD and weight loss.

Methods: We conducted a three-phase, mixed-methods process among Mexican/Central American patients …

Secondary English Teachers’ Experiences Of Barriers To Implementing Differentiated Literacy Instruction, Andrea Carson Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Institutionalization Of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, And Accessibility In California Community Colleges, Kristin Lui-Martinez

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office accomplished system change using regulatory power to institutionalize diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) into Education Code. This qualitative research study investigated the origins and intention of the regulations that added DEIA competency criteria into employee evaluations and faculty tenure review through document analysis. The study also used interviews to examine the faculty perceptions of the regulations and understand how faculty supported or resisted the regulations. Applying critical policy analysis and Felix’s (2021) multicontextual implementation framework, this study examined three main questions: (a) how did the California Community College Chancellor’s Office collaborate and engage …

Narratives Of Cultural Wealth: Understanding What Works For Underrepresented Minority Students In Stem, Grace Long

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined the lived experiences of underrepresented minority alumni from Galileo STEM High School who are pursuing STEM degrees at four-year universities. Guided by Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) framework, the study focused on what worked for underrepresented minority groups (UMG) in STEM. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to learn a) what factors contributed to their STEM development and identities, b) what forms of cultural wealth were leveraged in high school and in the first years of college to pursue and persist in STEM studies, and c) experiences from Galileo STEM High School that cultivated and affirmed …

Access Does Not Equal Inclusion: Examining The First-Year College Experience Of First-Generation Latinx Dual Enrollment Alumni From Rural Communities, Dulce Diaz

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the first-year experiences of first-generation Latinx students from rural communities who are alumni of a dual enrollment (DE) program, with a focus on their transition into higher education. Guided by the following research questions, (1) How do first-generation students of color reflect on the challenges and successes in their first year at a four-year institution as alumni of high school DE programs? and (2) How can insights from their experiences inform improvements to DE programming?, this study aimed to uncover both the benefits and barriers these students encounter. Through qualitative interviews with eight students, the study explored …

Visual Cues In Online Education: How Emojis In Asynchronous Instructor Communication Strengthen Emotional And Behavioral Outcomes, Minseong Kim, Tami L. Knotts, Nancy D. Albers, Karen E. James

Faculty Publications

Online learning environments often lack nonverbal cues that support relational communication between instructors and students, making it difficult to establish emotional connection and trust. This study examines how emojis, as affective visual cues, influence instructor credibility, emotional attachment, trust, and responsible behavior in asynchronous online education. A scenario-based experiment was conducted with 297 undergraduate students who were randomly assigned to view an instructor email either with or without emojis. Participants subsequently evaluated the instructor’s credibility (expertise, trustworthiness, and likeability), as well as their emotional attachment, trust, and anticipated responsible behavior. The results indicate that emojis significantly enhance perceived likeability, which …

Voltage-Sensor–Targeting Modulators Of Iks: Identifying Critical Functional Groups Of C28 Via Electrophysiology And Sar Modeling, Jiacheng Huang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

I_Ks (KCNQ1/KCNE1) channels are essential for cardiac repolarization, and their dysfunction contributes to arrhythmogenic disorders such as Long QT Syndrome type 1 (LQT1). Pharmacological activation of I_Ks has therefore emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy. C28, a recently identified voltage-sensor–targeting activator, has been shown to markedly shift KCNQ1/KCNE1 voltage dependence and enhance current amplitude, validating the voltage-sensing domain (VSD) as a druggable site. However, the structural determinants that underlie C28’s activity remain incompletely understood. In this study, we aimed to identify critical functional groups of C28 by screening a structurally diverse set of C28-like analogs and evaluating their …

Toward Vehicle-Agnostic Driving Signatures For Cognitive Impairment Prediction From Naturalistic Driving Data, Aadarsha Gopala Reddy

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

This thesis studies whether naturalistic driving data can help predict binary Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) status while accounting for differences across vehicles. The final analytic dataset comprised 26,968 participant-weeks from 304 participants. Weekly driving features were derived from real-world telematics data and combined with four demographic covariates. Primary model comparisons used leave-one-participant-out (LOGO) cross-validation, with one individual held out at a time and pooled participant-level metrics used as the main reporting surface.

The main comparison includes six model families evaluated on the same dataset under a shared LOGO framework. Performance remained modest overall. GRU-DANN had the highest participant-level ROC AUC …

Interaction-Aware Safe Planning For Human-Robot And Multi-Robot Systems, Haoyi Wang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Robots operating in shared environments must interact safely not only with static obstacles but also with other decision-making agents, including humans and other robots. In such settings, both safety and task completion depend on the ability to reason about interaction. Two major challenges arise. In human-robot interaction, future human behavior depends on latent internal factors, such as attentiveness and behavioral style, that are not directly observable to the robot. In multi-robot systems, decentralized reactive navigation can fail in cluttered environments when reciprocal interactions create deadlocks that prevent progress through narrow passages or bottlenecks. This thesis investigates these two challenges from …

Temperature And Environmental Implications On Ti3c2cl2 Mxene Degradation Process, Yang Yang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

MXenes, a rapidly emerging class of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and nitrides, have attracted considerable attention owing to their exceptional electrical, mechanical, and chemical properties. However, the inherent thinness of their atomic structure and the reactivity of their functional groups render MXenes susceptible to environmental degradation, whereby the lattice integrity is compromised and desirable material functionalities are dimin- ished. In this work, ex situ electron microscopy characterisation is performed on Ti₃C₂Cl₂ MXene specimens subjected to controlled gas environments — nitrogen gas (N₂) and air — at annealing temperatures of 200°C and 600°C, with …

Gender And Grades: The Gap In How Men And Women Fear Economic Collapse, Riley O'Connor

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Due to prescribed gender roles in society and wage gaps, historically, women have had to rely on spouses and family for economic survival. Now, with access to higher education and increased salaries, their economic fears are shifting. In this paper I analyze the extent of the gender gap in the fear of economic and financial collapse of Americans. Using the Chapman Survey of American Fear, an original data set surveying the degree to which American adults fear incidents collected in spring of 2025, men and women of the same education fear economic collapse differently, signifying men fear economic collapse less …

2026-05-06 Campus Store No More? Seattle U Shifts To Online Sales And Future Pop-Ups, Maya Deguzman

The Spectator Online

No abstract provided.

Financial Literacy And Kentucky House Bill 342, Rebecca J. Futrell

Honors College Theses

This study examines the correlation between taking a financial literacy class in high school and an individual’s actual financial literacy. It is inspired by the recent Kentucky House Bill 342, which mandates that a financial literacy class be taken during high school. According to recent studies, Generation Z scores the lowest on a financial literacy index among the past three generations. To address this, many U.S. states have introduced mandatory financial literacy classes in K-12 education. In 2025, Kentucky joined the 30 states that mandated a financial literacy class for a high school diploma. The Kentucky House Bill 342 selects …

Examining The Relationship Between Teachers’ Attitudes And Efficacy For Inclusive Classroom Practices, Dike Ibiam Dick

Journal of Innovation and Teacher Professionalism

This study examined the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and their attitudes toward inclusive education in Ondo State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was adopted, and data were collected from 500 primary and secondary school teachers using two standardized instruments: the Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised (SACIE-R) Scale and the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practice (TEIP) Scale. Data were analyzed using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation, Multiple Linear Regression, and one-way ANOVA. The findings revealed a moderate positive relationship between teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education and their self-efficacy in behavior management and collaboration, while a weaker positive relationship was …

Rethinking Gout Through An Inflammatory Lens, James Espinosa, Alan A. Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

This review reframes gout not as a static disease of urate deposition, but as a dynamic inflammatory phenomenon. The emphasis is on immune activation, threshold behavior, and systemic inflammatory context rather than isolated joint pathology.

From Clinical Observation To Scholarly Question Academic Curiosity As A Professional Virtue In Emergency Medicine Introducing The Mindful Observation → Curious Inquiry → Clinical Structuring → Scholarly Sharing (Moccs) Model, James Espinosa, Alan A. Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Emergency Medicine generates continuous clinical observations, yet many potentially meaningful insights never progress beyond informal reflection. This poster reframes every day shift observations as the ecological foundation of scholarly inquiry. Conceptual Framework: We propose a simple, repeatable process to lower the activation energy for academic engagement The Mindful Observation → Curious Inquiry → Clinical Structuring → Scholarly Sharing (MOCCS) Model. This model centers disciplined noticing as a professional virtue. By naming and normalizing the “hmmm” and “huh?” moments, this approach validates frontline clinical wisdom, democratizes scholarly participation, and restores intellectual joy within high-stress clinical environments. Conclusion: Curiosity is not hierarchical. …

Brief Review : Listening Closely--Stethoscopes, Hygiene Gaps, And The Unfinished Work Of Healthcare-Associated Infection Prevention, James Espinosa, Swet Patel, Robin Lahr, Sergey Medlenov, Russell Mordecai, James Lee, Alan Lucerna, Henry Schuitema

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) remain a persistent patient safety challenge. While hand hygiene has received sustained institutional focus, stethoscope hygiene remains inconsistently addressed despite longstanding evidence of contamination. Stethoscopes function as portable, patient-to-patient devices that may serve as under-recognized fomites in emergency and inpatient settings. Prior pilot work demonstrated that clinicians were unable to reliably distinguish between disposable and standard stethoscopes, and that perceived acoustic degradation from a diaphragm barrier was minimal. These findings suggest that acoustic concerns may not represent a primary barrier to hygiene-enhancing strategies. This brief review examines the literature surrounding stethoscope contamination and cleaning behavior, frames the …

Facial Skin Discoloration After Topical Silver Sulfadiazine: A Case Report, Hannah Culleny, Philip Carhart, James Espinosa, Neel Parikh, Alan Lucerna, Henry Schuitema

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Silver sulfadiazine (Silvadene) is a topical antimicrobial commonly used in burn management. Although generally well tolerated, excessive or prolonged application may result in cutaneous pigmentation changes due to silver deposition.

Here we present the case of a a 45-year-old woman who presented with diffuse gray-blue facial discoloration five days after sustaining a minor thermal injury. She had been prescribed topical silver sulfadiazine but applied the medication to her entire face and continued use after wound resolution. Physical examination demonstrated asymptomatic hyperpigmented gray-blue macules confined to areas of application. There were no signs of inflammation or systemic involvement. Discontinuation of the …

Brief Review: Does Red Hair Phenotype Affect Propofol Pharmacokinetics Or Pharmacodynamics?, James Espinosa, Frank Wheeler, Robin Lahr, Sergey Medlenov, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: A persistent belief within Emergency Medicine and perioperative culture suggests that individuals with red hair require altered anesthetic dosing. While early studies demonstrated increased requirements for certain volatile anesthetics in red-haired individuals, this association is frequently generalized to propofol without clear supporting evidence.

Objective: To review current literature regarding the relationship between red hair phenotype (and MC1R variants) and propofol pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD).

Methods: A focused narrative review of controlled human studies and relevant clinical outcome data evaluating propofol PK and PD in red-haired individuals.

Results: Evidence supporting altered anesthetic requirement in red-haired individuals primarily derives from …

Towards More Effective And Efficient Ite And Board Preparation In Emergency Medicine: A Conceptual Framework Using Personality Preferences (Mbti) To Inform Study And Test-Taking Behaviors, James Espinosa, Robin Lahr, James Lee, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Preparation for high-stakes examinations in Emergency Medicine (EM) relies heavily on question-bank practice, rapid decision-making, and targeted review. Despite standardized board-preparation resources, trainees demonstrate substantial variability in study behaviors and perceived efficiency. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), widely used in medical education for communication and self-reflection, may offer a framework for understanding differences in study and test-taking behaviors, though it is not designed as a predictive psychometric tool.

Objective: To review existing literature relating MBTI preferences to learning behaviors and academic performance, and to propose a conceptual framework linking personality preferences to board-style test-taking patterns in EM trainees.

Methods: …

Medical Clearance For Behavioral Health Patients In The Emergency Department: A Conceptual Overview Of Practice Variability, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with behavioral health complaints frequently undergo medical clearance prior to behavioral health evaluation or admission. Substantial variability appears to be found in laboratory utilization, documentation language, and interdepartmental workflow.

Objective: To provide a conceptual overview of variability in medical clearance practices and to synthesize existing guideline recommendations and literature regarding routine laboratory testing in low-risk psychiatric patients.

Methods: Narrative review of professional policy statements, selected peer-reviewed studies, and operational considerations influencing emergency physician practice patterns.

Results: Evidence suggests that routine laboratory testing in psychiatric patients has low diagnostic yield and rarely changes …

The Case For Intraprocedural Ultrasound Guidance In Lumbar Puncture--From Landmarking To Navigation In Lumbar Puncture. A Conceptual Review And Research Agenda, James Espinosa, Frank Wheeler, Robin Lahr, Sergey Medlenov, Alan Lucerna, Henry Schuitema

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Ultrasound guidance for lumbar puncture (LP) is well established for pre-procedural landmark identification, particularly in patients with difficult anatomy. However, most current approaches discontinue ultrasound prior to needle insertion, returning the operator to a blind technique. Current emergency medicine ultrasound guided intravenous line insertion demonstrate feasibility of real-time needle visualization.  However,  the development and adoption of real-time guidance in the setting of lumbar puncture remains limited. Prior simulation work demonstrated that ergonomics, operator experience, and workflow integration significantly influence performance in ultrasound-assisted LP (Horn, Espinosa et al., 2016).  Here we make the case that LP is not a static targeting …

Protecting The Protectors: Supporting Emergency Department Security Officer Wellness: A Brief Conceptual Review And Research Agenda, James A. Espinosa Md, Paul Sarnese, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Workplace violence in emergency departments (EDs) has been widely studied, yet the occupational wellness of ED security officers has received comparatively limited focused attention in emergency medicine literature.

Objective: To conceptually examine the role of ED security personnel within the emergency care environment and outline a research agenda addressing their wellness.

Discussion: Security officers frequently respond to behavioral crises, assist with restraint events, and help maintain safety for patients, visitors, and staff. These duties include vigilance between events, sudden physical exertion, and exposure to aggression. ED security work often follows a recognizable rhythm: baseline vigilance, rapid escalation response, physical …

Physician Bedside Communication Posture (Sitting Versus Standing) In Relation To Patient Satisfaction: A Focused Literature Review And Areas For Potential Research, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background:

Sitting during patient encounters is commonly recommended in communication training, with the assumption that it improves patient satisfaction. However, the empirical evidence supporting this recommendation in Emergency Department (ED) settings appears limited.

Objective:

To review the existing literature examining physician posture (sitting versus standing) and its association with patient satisfaction and perceived communication quality.

Methods:

Narrative review of ED and non-ED studies evaluating posture during clinical encounters, with attention to study design, sample size, setting, and outcome measures.

Results:

ED-specific evidence remains heterogeneous. Some studies demonstrate that sitting increases patients’ perception of time spent at bedside without increasing actual …

Olfaction And Clinical Cognition In Medicine: An Under-Theorized Sensory Modality In Healthcare, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Olfaction is the most evolutionarily ancient sensory modality and retains privileged neuroanatomical connections to limbic and threat-detection systems. Despite its biological significance, olfactory perception is under-discussed in contemporary medical education and academic literature, particularly in healthcare environments.

Objective: To examine olfaction as a low-bandwidth, high-salience diagnostic signal in medicine; to explore its neurobiological foundations; and to analyze its ethical, social, and professional implications within Emergency Medicine and other clinical settings.

Methods: Narrative synthesis of neuroscience, evolutionary biology, volatile organic compound (VOC) research, and clinical observational practice.

Discussion: Olfactory pathways bypass primary thalamic relay and project directly to limbic structures …

When The Clock Stands Still: Clock Time Vs. Experienced Time In The Emergency Department Brief Review: Neurobiology Of Time Perceptiontemporal Distortion As A Marker Of Cognitive Load And Operational Turbulence, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Emergency clinicians frequently report that time during ED shifts can feel unusually slow or unusually fast. This shared observation has rarely been examined formally in emergency medicine. Altered time perception has also been described in high demand professions such as aviation, sports, military operations, and emergency response. Individuals often report time dilation during critical events and time compression during highly coordinated performance. These findings suggest that temporal perception reflects underlying neurocognitive responses to environmental demands. Emergency departments share many characteristics with these environments, including rapid decision making, task switching, and intermittent high stakes events.

Objective:  Brief narrative review concerning …

Procedural Narration As An Important Cognitive Adjunct To Analgesia: Naming And Neurobiologically Grounding An Established Emergency Medicine Practice, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Experienced emergency physicians routinely provide real-time verbal guidance during procedures. Although widespread and intuitive, this practice has not been commonly conceptualized within pain neuroscience.

Objective: To name and mechanistically ground procedural narration as a form of cognitive analgesia, and to promote its intentional use and teaching in Emergency Medicine.

Methods: Narrative review integrating predictive coding theory, placebo/nocebo research, affective neuroscience, descending inhibitory pathway literature, and attentional modulation studies.

Results: Procedural narration reduces uncertainty, aligns expectation with sensation, modulates limbic threat processing, engages prefrontal cortical regulation, and supports descending inhibitory control of nociception.

Conclusion: Procedural narration is not a novel …

When Individual Implicit Bias Meets Ed System Turbulence: Expanding The Implicit Bias And Cultural Bias Conceptual Frame To Support Reflective Decision Making Through Both Individual Bias Reduction Strategies As Well As System-Level Design Approaches, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background

Cultural and implicit bias have been widely studied as contributors to disparities in healthcare delivery. Prior literature has largely conceptualized bias as an individual-level cognitive phenomenon occurring within clinician–patient interactions. However, emergency departments (EDs) function as complex adaptive systems (CAS), characterized by time pressure, uncertainty, cognitive load, and environmental noise. These conditions may contribute to the expression of implicit bias in clinical care.

Objective

To reframe cultural and implicit bias in the ED as both an individual cognitive property as well as a system-dependent and modulated  phenomenon and to propose that the operational state of the ED influences the …