Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Effects Of Microarchitecture On Astrocyte Behavior And Vascular Remodeling In Spinal Cord Injury, Devin Gerber

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a common condition and is characterized by traumatic and progressive damage that results in limited neuron regeneration and thus a restricted recovery. In SCI, the vasculature is also severely damaged, which exacerbates inflammation at the injury site. Specifically, insufficient angiogenesis occurs at the site of injury due to the fibrotic pathological microenvironment1 . SCI also leads to the formation of a fluid-filled cavity and thus gliosis and fibrosis, forming a dense glial and fibrotic scar around the cavity. The microenvironment at the injury site plays a significant role in astrocyte behavior, promoting the transformation of …

Microbiome Recovery Of The Upper Clark Fork River Restoration Site, Danella Stapley

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Soil microorganisms provide ecosystem functions and services critical for life, can have lasting effects on aboveground plant communities, and can serve as indicators of soil quality. However, biotic indicators are underrepresented in soil health assessments. Incorporating microbial soil evaluations in ecological restoration studies are important in order to obtain a more comprehensive understanding about their role in healthy soil development. In this study, we used three bioindicators to assess the post-restoration soil microbiome recovery of the Upper Clark Fork River: extracellular soil enzyme activity, microbial biomass, and microbiome community and diversity. We found that microbiome recovery rate varied at different …

Marshall Bike Path Plan, James Speer, Mia Dausch, Dazonik Carter, Kyra Young, Emma Wilson

2023 Spring Reports (Marshall, IL)

The city of Marshall, Illinois has expressed interest in creating a new bike path through their town. This will reduce the number of cars on the roads and promote more physical activity for the citizens. They have concerns about the school traffic jam during pick up and drop off. To help address this concern, the bike path route we planned travels through town and connects the schools, this will help with automobile traffic concerns by encouraging more children to ride their bikes to school. The town also wanted the bike path to connect with the Lincoln Trail State Park located …

Restoring A Brownfield With Greenspace: A Communal Look At Marshall, Il, James Speer, Caroline Robinson, Mason Boyd

2023 Spring Reports (Marshall, IL)

The city of Marshall was plagued with the news that the Velsicol Chemical site had been dumping chemicals less than five miles from the center of the town. With a soccer field about twenty yards away from the site, the city has every right to be skeptical of the site's health. We as a group had been assigned to assist the city with the assessment of the health of the site. The city’s goals were to find the true health of the site as well as find possible solutions for what to do with the site. The analysis of our …

Water Tower Inspections, Jake Davis, Kris Bodie, Jared Higham

2023 Spring Reports (Marshall, IL)

The ability to inspect the infrastructure of a nation or state is of the utmost importance in the modern day. The regulation of work and infrastructure has required the ability to perform quality inspections more necessary, however the inspection of the infrastructure must be safe. This has increased the demand for remote options for inspection of objects such as water towers which require the inspectors to climb heights of up to two hundred feet and traverse a low friction surface. This hazard is ultimately unavoidable, but it is capable of being mitigated through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to …

Utility Of A Prompting Protocol For Occupational Therapy Evaluation Of Functional Life Skills, Kira Deveau Mot, Otr/L

Student Scholarship

Occupational therapists (OTs) conduct evaluations to establish need for services, determine areas of strength, and define areas of need when working with pediatric clients with diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or intellectual disability (ID). Occupational therapy (OT) evaluation for clients with ASD and ID often focuses on performance of functional skills or skills foundational to the performance of functional tasks. The goal of OT evaluation is to gather specific and accurate data regarding client abilities to support goal setting, treatment planning, and progress monitoring. This capstone research project explored the utility of task-specific prompting protocols for impacting the useability, …

2022 Gettysburg College Textbook Survey Full Report, Mary R. Elmquist, Janelle Wertzberger

All Musselman Library Staff Works

In Fall 2022, Musselman Library conducted its second course materials survey, this time in collaboration with 10 other liberal arts colleges from around the country. This report compiles the results from Gettysburg College participants' responses. Comparisons are also made to the results from Gettysburg's 2019 survey and the larger group of colleges.

Immunophenotypic Expression Profile Of Multiple Myeloma Cases At A Tertiary Hospital In Nairobi Kenya, Isabella Mengich, Sheerien Rajput, Riyat Malkit, Zahir Moloo, Elizabeth Kagotho, El-Nasir Lalani, Anne Mwirigi

Pathology, East Africa

Introduction: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell neoplasm that constitutes 10–15% of all hematopoietic neoplasms. Kenya is placed among the top five African countries for MM incidence and MM-related mortality. Prior studies have suggested that the aberrant expression of Cyclin D1, CD56, CD117 and Ki-67 on neoplastic plasma cells is useful in disease prognostication. The prevalence and significance of expression of these markers in a cohort of MM cases in Kenya has not been studied previously.

Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. The study population included 83 MM …

Neonatal Reference Intervals For Thyroid Stimulating Hormone And Free Thyroxine Assayed On A Siemens Atellica® Im Analyzer: A Cross Sectional Study, Geoffrey Omuse, David Kawalya, Patrick Mugaine, Assumpta Chege, Daniel Maina

Pathology, East Africa

Background Deriving population specific reference intervals (RIs) or at the very least verifying any RI before adoption is good laboratory practice. Siemens has provided RIs for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) determined on their Atellica® IM analyzer for all age groups except the neonatal age group which provides a challenge for laboratories that intend to use it to screen for congenital hypothyroidism (CH) and other thyroid disorders in neonates. We set out to determine RIs for TSH and FT4 using data obtained from neonates undergoing routine screening for CH at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya. …

Factors Associated With Depressive Symptoms In Patients With Benign Prostatic Enlargement, Husni Abdalla, Jasmit Shah, Tabitha A.N. Nyanja, Jacob Shabani

Family Medicine, East Africa

Background: Depression is a common condition that may lead to suicide at its worst. It is considered one of the primary causes of morbidity globally. Among the urological causes of depression is benign prostatic enlargement (BPE).

Aim: To determine the prevalence and factors associated with depressive symptoms among BPE patients.

Setting: This study was conducted in the Urology and Family Medicine Clinic at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi and Urology clinic at the Aga Khan Hospital Mombasa.

Methods: The study was a cross-sectional design recruiting 308 males above the age of 40. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 …

"I Think It's Biblically Wrong, But Temptation Gets The Better Of Me": A Survey On Out-Of-Control Sexual Behavior In A Christian Cohort Of Men In The Uk, Timothy C Y Lau, Glenn M. Miles

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The current study aims to better understand influences on men within the UK Christian community on their engagement with pornography and prostitution. The authors utilized the Carnes (2012) survey to examine the landscape of sexual knowledge and behaviours, and to identify symptoms, and the propensity towards, “out-of-control sexual behavior” among participants. Data from a survey sent to the Christian community through church networks and word of mouth was used for this study. Of the 491 men who participated, the majority (94%, 460) described their personal Christian faith as “strong.” Despite the Christian faith community's moral code of conduct, the survey …

Mental Health & Homelessness, Lucy Alimamy

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No specific gender, race, socioeconomic status, or occupation is exempt from the stigma associated with mental health issues. It has an impact on every person, both directly and indirectly. Women who have been victimized often suffer from mental illnesses that lead to additional victimization, such as homelessness. The main goal of this thesis is to inform and raise awareness of homelessness and mental illness. I hope that by sharing the information and data I will be collecting through my work, people will be inspired to help those in need in our neighborhoods and, in the long run, will contribute to …

The Evolution Of The Child Character With Learning Differences, Mary Viera

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In this paper, I will analyze the various representations of learning disabilities in selected children’s literature from the early twentieth century to recent literature published in the last decade. In the typical American classroom specific learning disabilities account for about 20% of students. It is the largest classified group to receive services in special education, and also the broadest: “Learning disabilities are disorders that affect the ability to understand or use spoken or written language, do mathematical calculations, coordinate movements or direct attention” (NIH, 2022). I will use the term “learning differences” as it encompasses all children who learn differently …

Front Matter

Texas A&M Law Review

Front Matter

Outside Inside, Frank I. Michelman

Texas A&M Law Review

“Outsider scholarship,” we hear, “is characterized by a commitment to the interests of people of color and/or women, by rejection of abstraction and dispassionate ‘objectivity,’ and by a preference for narrative and other engaged forms of discourse.” Off the bat, we think: “Delgado!”, “Rodrigo!” Rightly, we raise our hats and cheer.

Simplicity And Complexity In Law And In Markets, Saul Levmore

Texas A&M Law Review

Richard Epstein’s Simple Rules for a Complex World is true to its title and to the author’s demonstrated genius over a long career. It is a libertarian-oriented enterprise in that it requires the reader to share in the belief that government programs are often wasteful and subject to unattractive interest group pressures and corrupt bureaucracies. More generally, Simple Rules is framed against a background in which the reader must share the libertarian view that individuals can and should be trusted to look after themselves and to make their own choices. Epstein likes “simple” rules; these include strict liability, a flat …

Knowledge Institutions And Democratic Erosion: The Invaluable Contributions Of Tom Ginsburg, Vicki C. Jackson

Texas A&M Law Review

The work of Tom Ginsburg, a leading scholar of comparative constitutional studies, is influential around the world and spans a very wide range of topics. He has played an absolutely essential role in establishing a database of constitutional provisions, both around the world and over time, that has fueled his own research, including his co-authored book on the endurance of national constitutions, and the research of other comparative constitutional scholars. He has contributed important insights about many different areas of comparative constitutional study. In much of his work he has been concerned with the relationship between political forces and political …

Universities As Knowledge Institutions: A Reply To Professor Jackson, Tom Ginsburg

Texas A&M Law Review

I am grateful for Professor Vicki Jackson’s engagement with my scholarly work, and I want to take this opportunity to react to some of hers in one of the areas in which our concerns overlap. As Professor Jackson describes, in recent years she has been working on the important topic of what she calls “knowledge institutions in constitutional democracy.” This focus is appropriate as it addresses a very central source of the current malaise plaguing many constitutional democracies around the world. The crisis of democracy in the 21st century is not only one of economic inequality, institutions, or political polarization: …

Reflection, Deliberation, And Dialogue: Stipanowich's Contribution To Dispute Resolution, Jacqueline Nolan-Haley

Texas A&M Law Review

During the late 70s through the early 21st century, the Modern Progressive Era brought into focus a great concern with the manifest lack of justice in law and society. The urgency of the need for justice spawned multiple reform movements. Along with feminism, law and economics, and others, dispute resolution (often referred to as Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) or the “Quiet Revolution”) is recognized as a reform movement which lends itself to progressive persuasion. Professor Thomas Stipanowich is a significant scholar of the Modern Progressive Era. Professor Stipanowich has shaped and internationalized dispute resolution theory and practice for more than …

Ways Of Knowing And The Law: A Tribute To Joseph William Singer, Laura S. Underkuffler

Texas A&M Law Review

What is art in human life? When we think of art, it seems at first blush to be just another human endeavor. It is brush strokes of some chosen substance across a piece of canvas or paper. It is the piece of wood or stone left after pieces have been removed by human hands. It is sounds made of a certain pitch and in a certain pattern, rather than another.

Yet we know that art is more. It is more than the mechanics of creation or even the materials of which it is comprised. It is more not because of …

Professor Rachel Moran: A Foundational Latina/O Civil Rights Scholar, Kevin R. Johnson

Texas A&M Law Review

With an illustrious scholarly career, Professor Rachel Moran is a most-deserving Texas A&M University Hagler Fellow. Previously a chaired professor of law and dean of UCLA School of Law, and a chaired professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, she currently is a Distinguished and Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, where she was one of the founding faculty.

Introduction: A Presumption Of "Possible", Robert B. Ahdieh

Texas A&M Law Review

Dean Robert Ahdieh authors an introduction to Volume 10, Number 4 of the Texas A&M Law Review.

Digital Privacy For Reproductive Choice In The Post-Roe Era, Aziz Z. Huq, Rebecca Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

The overruling of Roe v. Wade has unleashed a torrent of regulatory and punitive activity restricting previously lawful reproductive options. But the turn to the expansive criminal law and new schemes of civil liability creates novel concerns, quite distinct from the pre-Roe landscape a half-century ago. Reproductive choice, and its nemesis, turn upon information. For pregnant people, deciding on a choice of medical care entails a search for advice and services. Information is at a pre­mium for them. Meanwhile, efforts to regulate abortion began with clinic closings. But they will quickly extend to civil actions and criminal indictments of patients, …

“Let’S Do The Time Warp, Again!” The Rocky Horror Picture Show As Hysterical Theatre, Frances Wendorf

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

In studying not only the distinct aesthetics and themes of the film but also the experience of the cult midnight movie screenings, this thesis re-positions The Rocky Horror Picture show as a radical descendent of the theatrical legacy of Jean- Martin Charcot’s lectures on hysteria. His “theatre of hysteria” is a retroactive terminology for the physician’s highlytheatricalized lecture series at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris in the 1880s on the diagnosis of hysteria, during which the bodies of hysterical patients were rendered an objectified public spectacle under the guise of medical observation. The thesis explores intersections between queer and hysterical …

Sela Officers And Executive Committee, Sela State Representatives

The Southeastern Librarian

Current SELA officers and representatives.

The Weeding Handbook: A Shelf-By-Shelf Guide, 2nd Edition, Camille Mccutcheon

The Southeastern Librarian

Rebecca Vnuk Chicago: ALA Editions, 2022 ISBN: 9780838937174 240 p. $49.99 (Pbk)

Surfing The South: The Search For Waves And The People Who Ride Them, A Blake Denton

The Southeastern Librarian

Steve Estes Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2022 ISBN: 9781469667775 214 p. $23.00 (Pbk)

Authenticating Whiteness: Karens, Selfies, And Pop Stars, Allison Faix

The Southeastern Librarian

Rachel E. Dubrofsky Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2022 ISBN: 9781496843326 184 p. $99.00 (Hbk)

Scanning The Digital: Using Survey Data To Support Digital Scholarship Initiatives At The University Of Mississippi, Abigail Norris, Adam Clemons, Alex Watson

The Southeastern Librarian

Digital scholarship (the use of digital technology in research or teaching applications) is a new and growing field but many Mississippi libraries, including the University of Mississippi, are not officially supporting digital scholarship. To change this, librarians at the University of Mississippi sent out an online survey to faculty, staff, postdocs, and graduate students in order to gauge their interest in and experience with digital scholarship methods and tools and how the library can best support digital scholarship on campus. The results showed a wide variety of interest and expertise across several fields, mostly in the humanities, with important data …

Sela News & News From The States

The Southeastern Librarian

News from participating Southeastern states.