Digital Commons Network^™

Art In Climate Argumentation, Matthew Morely

Comm-entary

My paper examines the role of art in the environmental crisis that we are currently facing. I believe that the climate emergency is largely the result of a disconnect between the scientific community and the non-scientific community. In other words, scientists are trying to portray scientific information to a non-scientist demographic. I believe that if we are to prevail during these uncertain times, we need a middleman between these two parties. We need someone who is able to take the information that the scientists are bringing to the table and break it down to non-scientists in a way that makes …

Analysis Of 'My Sister’S Keeper' And Parents Of Terminally Ill Children, Brie Surawski

Comm-entary

This paper uses the film and the novel that it is based on to examine the behavior and communication strategies of parents with terminally ill children.

Empathy Meditation To Soothe Division, Kaley Lambert

Comm-entary

In that widespread lack of empathy and the presence of excess stress may be contributing factors toward harsh social division in the United States, programs to increase empathy and decrease stress may help to soothe these issues. Classrooms act as spaces which may be specially suited to trial and implement such programs. This research presents the foundational backing for such programs, and offers a detailed proposal for one set within the structure of a college level course.

Remembering The Aids Crisis & Act Up: The Failures Of The American Public, Government, And Cultural Institutions, Céilí Flot

Comm-entary

This paper discusses the history of the AIDS crisis and the activist group ACT UP. During the early stages of the outbreak, there was much confusion and hysteria surrounding the nature of the illness. Many misconceptions about the illness had led to inaction from the public and government. In response, ACT UP had formed to address this inaction. This paper analyzes a set of six photographs taken during ACT UP’s protest efforts and analyzes the arguments within them.

Kill ‘Objectivity,’ Save The Planet, Kaley Lambert

Comm-entary

This piece argues that objectivity is a flawed journalistic standard that is detrimental to pursuits for climate crisis action. Objectivity encourages practices that reiterate structures of injustice, disadvantage voices from marginalized communities while simultaneously advantaging stances with minimal scientific backing, and worsens matters of audience disengagement. In pursuit of reducing or eliminating this environmentally burdensome practice, this paper proposes a transition toward transparent objectivity as a possible alternative to objectivity for journalistic standards.

The Death Penalty Does Not Deter Murder, Samuel Maynard

Comm-entary

No abstract provided.

Rhetorical Analysis Of 'Surviving R. Kelly', Grace Righini

Comm-entary

This essay discusses the documentary Surviving R. Kelly, which details allegations of sexual abuse against the musician Robert "R" Kelly. The documentary provides a platform for young black women to speak out against Kelly and explain why he is an abuser. It also sheds light on victims' difficulties in obtaining justice, particularly when a celebrity is involved. The essay analyses the impact of the documentary and how it has empowered women to come forward with their own stories, regarding other women speaking out during the #MeToo movement and paving the way for future documentaries speaking out against other powerful celebrities. …

Death With Interruptions Short Analysis, Lydia Osmer

Comm-entary

In this writing piece, Death with Interruptions by José Saramago is analyzed through the lens of its stream of consciousness writing style. Using concepts from End of Life Communication studies and traditional literary analysis, this short analysis on Death with Interruptions focuses on the both the personified character of Death as well as Saramago’s stylistic choices throughout the story in order to illustrate human perceptions of love, life, and death.

Prevalence, Incidence And Chronicity Of Child Abuse Among Orphaned, Separated, And Street-Connected Children And Adolescents In Western Kenya: What Is The Impact Of Care Environment?, Samuel Ayaya, Allison Delong, Lonnie Embleton, David Ayuku, Edwin Sang, Joseph Hogan, Allan Kamanda, Lukoye Atwoli, Dominic Makori, Mary A. Ott, Caroline Ombok, Paula Braitstein

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Background: The effect of different types of care environment on orphaned and separated children and adolescents’ (OSCA) experiences of abuse in sub-Saharan Africa is uncertain.

Objective: Our two primary objectives were 1) to compare recent child abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual) between OSCA living in institutional environments and those in family-based care; and 2) to understand how recent child abuse among street-connected children and youth compared to these other vulnerable youth populations.

Participants and setting: This project followed a cohort of OSCA in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya (2009–2019). This analysis includes 2393 participants aged 18 years and below, 1017 from …

Prevalence Of Antimicrobial Resistance And Association With Patient Outcomes In A Rural Kenyan Hospital, Ian C. Drobish, Immaculate K. Barasa, George Otieno, Moses Odhiambo Osoo, Solomon K. Thuo, Kaya S. Belknap, Arianna Mclain Shirk, S. Taylor Mcclanahan, Elizabeth Irungu, Felix Riunga

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and association with outcomes in resource-variable intensive care units (ICU) are lacking. Data currently available are limited to large, urban centers. We attempted to understand this locally through a dual-purpose, retrospective study. Cohort A consisted of adult and pediatric patients who had blood, urine, or cerebrospinal fluid cultures obtained from 2016 to 2020. A total of 3,013 isolates were used to create the Kijabe Hospital’s first antibiogram. Gram-negative organisms were found to be less than 50% susceptible to third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins, 67% susceptible to piperacillin–tazobactam, 87% susceptible to amikacin, and 93% susceptible to meropenem. …

Relationships Between Embedded Tutors And Instructors: Understanding Power Dynamics Inside And Outside The Classroom, Allison M. Hill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Basic writers have long needed support to write more successfully at the postsecondary level. One method currently used is embedded tutoring programs, where students receive the support of the instructor and a tutor throughout the entire semester of first-year composition programs. These programs often provide students with academic and professional support, helping them learn to write for the university and beyond. While these programs have shown to be successful in the current literature on embedded tutoring programs, a gap in the research is that many of these studies focus on student outcomes and student success. Hardly any of these studies …

To Serve And Deplete: Exploring Outcomes Of Emotional Exhaustion In Servant Leadership And The Moderating Role Of Self-Leadership, April E. Mondy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This study explores the outcomes of emotional exhaustion in servant leadership, a leadership style through which leaders enact influence by serving, empowering, and developing others—that is, 'leading from behind.' Drawing on conservation of resources theory, I explored how servant leadership behaviors may adversely affect the practicing leader through emotional exhaustion and laterally influence the subsequent outcomes of work disengagement and work–family conflict. Additionally, I investigated the moderating influence of self-leadership on the relationship between servant leadership and emotional exhaustion. I tested a moderated mediation model with regression analysis using two independent samples of organizational leaders surveyed at two different time …

A Molecular Dynamics Study Of Structural Modifications Of Perarylphosphonium Based Ionic Liquids On The Melting Point, Johnathan Anderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Several perarylphosphonium based mesothermal ionic liquids (ILs) have been shown to be stable at high temperatures for prolonged periods of time and with high heat capacities making them good candidates for use in many processes such as usage as a heat transfer fluid, as an absorbent for separation of aromatics from aliphatics, and as a solvent for high temperature reactions. Many, however, have melting points above 100^o C, limiting their use. Recently, it was shown that the melting point of an IL can be lowered by simply increasing the dipole moment of the cation or by structurally rigidifying the …

How Monetary Incentives And Loyalty Affect Goal Realization, Lawrence E. Goehrig

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Monetary incentives are widely known to help motivate employees. Mostly these monetary incentives are used to increase the effort of the employees to attain the goals of the firm. Attaining firm goals will increase revenues, profits, market share, and similarly valued outcomes. These monetary incentives are often a gamble for the firm as there is no direct method to show the impact monetary incentives will have on goal attainment. Other variables come into play when monetary incentives are used. Employee loyalty, locus of control, and dishonest behavior are three that were researched. Employee loyalty can help the firm attain goals …

A Case Study In Bivariate Spline Spaces, Ryann Lee Firestine

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Loosely speaking, splines are piece-wise polynomial functions which are continuously differentiable of order r. The individual polynomial segments are degree less than or equal to d. Splines are typically associated with approximation theory, computer-aided graphic design, and partial differential equations. Due to the wide variety of applications, mathematicians became interested in better understanding the behavior of the vector spaces containing splines in various setting and values r and d. In particular, many focused on formulating the dimension of these vector spaces. In the 1980s, commutative algebra was first applied to the study of spline spaces. In our work, we use …

A Framework For Identifying Malware Threat Distribution On The Dark Web, Shelby Caldwell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

The Dark Web is an ever-growing phenomenon that has not been deeply explored. It is no secret that in recent years, malware has become a powerful threat to technology users. The Dark Web is known for supporting anonymity and secure connections for private interactions. Over the years, it has become a rich environment for displaying trends, details, and indicators of emerging malware threats. Through the application of data science and open-source intelligence techniques, trends in malware distribution can be studied. In this research, we create a framework for helping identify malware threat distribution patterns. We examine this type of Dark …

Substrate Stiffness: A Mechanical Determinant Of Endothelial Phenotype, Sunita Subedi Paudel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Endothelial cells (ECs) adhere to their neighboring cells via adherens and tight junctions, and to the basement membrane via focal adhesions. These structural elements are constantly remodeling i.e., even in a quiescent state, cells are in constant motion. ECs sense the stiffness of the basement membrane, and this stiffness is a physiological signal that control the cellular phenotype. Whereas the normotensive pulmonary circulation has a substrate stiffness that is ~1.25-4 kPa, vascular remodeling in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) increases substrate stiffness to ~30 kPa. The impact that this increase in substrate stiffness has no cell size, shape, and speed was …

Relationship Of Admission Practices In Radiologic Technology Programs To Attrition In Four-Year Universities, Melton Dale Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This study analyzed admission practices at four-year universities in the United States to determine whether a relationship exists between the score of an individual component of the admission practice and completion of radiologic technology programs. Attrition is a major concern for higher education as funding for higher education continues to decline. This is especially true for highly competitive programs where there are more applicants than seats available. Every Radiologic Technology program in the United States throughout the admission process tries to select the student that is most likely to succeed in their program. Understanding the relationship of the different components …

The Black Testament: A Portrait Of Female Genealogy In The African Diaspora, Raven Mcshan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

The Black Testament: A Portrait of Genealogy in the African Diaspora is a hybrid work of creative nonfiction and poetry. These pieces are based on my genealogical research into my family history. The collection traces from my discoveries in the present time back through my lived experiences, the lives of my relatives, and the lives of my ancestors. The subject of the work focuses on the women in my family and the various influences they have had in my life. The collection grapples with themes such as black womanhood, diasporic existence, and complex heritage. The traveling back of genealogical research …

Risk Assessment Framework For Evaluation Of Cybersecurity Threats And Vulnerabilities In Medical Devices, Maureen S. Van Devender

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Medical devices are vulnerable to cybersecurity exploitation and, while they can provide improvements to clinical care, they can put healthcare organizations and their patients at risk of adverse impacts. Evidence has shown that the proliferation of devices on medical networks present cybersecurity challenges for healthcare organizations due to their lack of built-in cybersecurity controls and the inability for organizations to implement security controls on them. The negative impacts of cybersecurity exploitation in healthcare can include the loss of patient confidentiality, risk to patient safety, negative financial consequences for the organization, and loss of business reputation. Assessing the risk of vulnerabilities …

Organized Crime: A Test Of Durkhein's Theory Of Punishment And Society, Mary M.G. Rader

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Emile Durkheim is known as one of the founders of sociology. For Durkheim, crime and punishment were integral features of organized social life. Among his many ideas regarding law, he hypothesized that as societies develop from less to more 'advanced,' there would be a shift from mechanical to organic solidarity. Durkheim believed this social transformation could be measured by a society's form of law, with predominantly penal law among simple societies and complex societies evolving into a more civil and restorative form of law. In contradiction to Durkheim's assertation, I will argue that societies can evolve to be highly advanced …

Impact Of Gamma Secretase Activating Protein On End-Organ Dysfunction In The Aftermath Of Pneumonia In A Novel Gamma Secretase Activating Protein Knockout Rat, Meredith S. Gwin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Pneumonia elicits the production of cytotoxic beta amyloid (Aβ) that contributes to endorgan dysfunction, yet the mechanism linking infection to production of cytotoxic Aβ is unknown. Here, we tested the hypothesis that γ-secretase activating protein (GSAP), which promotes Aβ production, contributes to end-organ dysfunction following bacterial pneumonia. First-in-kind GSAP knockout rats were generated. Wild type and knockout rats possessed similar body weights, organ weights, circulating blood cell counts, arterial blood gases, and cardiac indices at baseline. Intratracheal Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection caused acute lung injury and a hyperdynamic circulatory state. Whereas infection led to arterial hypoxemia in wild type rats, the …

Role Of Mitochondrial Outer Membrane Translocase Subunit, Tomm22, In Pancreatic Cancer Pathobiology, Mary Oluwadamilola Haastrup

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a highly deadly malignancy with no effective biomarkers for early diagnosis, accurate monitoring and/or surveillance. Due to the late staged diagnosis in the majority of the cases, therapeutic interventions are limited resulting in high mortality. Recent studies continue to discover the diverse roles of mitochondria in pancreatic tumorigenesis, potentiating mitochondria as attractive targets for therapeutics and biomarker development. Although mitochondria have their own genome, most mitochondrial proteins (∼99%) are nuclear-encoded and imported into mitochondria by a specialized protein import system consisting of seven machineries. Among these machineries, translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane (TOMM) machinery, comprising …

Faculty Beliefs On Active Learning Strategies In Higher Education: Identification Of Predictors For Use Of Active Learning, Margaret Marie Salter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Evaluating the perceptions of active learning strategies is often seen from the perspective of the learners at the primary and secondary education levels. Additional data on beliefs of active learning in higher education such as of faculty members is needed. Active learning strategies are on the front line in education as a method to enhance student learning and foster twenty-first century skills. Developing twenty-first century skills is essential as the environment of the workplace is dynamic and evolving requiring individuals to rely on critical thinking and diverse application of their knowledge. Universities should continue to evolve to best prepare graduates …

Determination Of Cadmium Uptake In Crassostrea Virginica Shell Under Controlled Conditions, Joseph John Pavelites Ii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

The objective of this thesis was to meet growing demand for the development of environmental biomonitors that protect ecosystems and public health. To do this, I determined the potential of oyster shell as a bioindicator of cadmium (Cd) in the environment by determining the mode of Cd uptake and relationships between Cd concentrations in the environment, shell, and soft tissues of juvenile eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica Gmelin). I performed a review of the literature on the ability of oyster shell to retain metal contaminants and the factors that could affect this process (Chapter 2). I then reared C. virginica …

Facilitating Learner Engagement And Success Through Collaborative Study Guides In Online Nursing Graduate Courses, Yolany Lizzeth Lagos Ortiz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This mixed methods study sought to explore how graduate nursing students engaged with a study guide intervention to determine the relationship between the intervention and students' performance in the end-of-course assessment and their perceptions of cognitive presence and social presence in a fully online graduate evidence-based methods nursing course. This study used a quantitative-driven mixed-methods concurrent research design. The 371 students enrolled in the 28 course sections were invited to participate. 325 students were engaging with the study guide, and 192 responded to the questionnaire. In quantitative analysis, the independent variables in this study were students' responses and views to …

Faculty-Leader Relationships And Work Engagement: A Mixed-Methods Study, Sonya Davidson Kopp

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Nearly three-fourths of faculty at U.S. institutions of higher education (IHEs) are classified as non-tenure track faculty (NTTF), and more the 70% of higher education students had taken online courses following the move to emergency online instruction in 2019. Remote faculty relationships with leaders have been shown to play a vital role in faculty satisfaction and engagement with their work. This convergent parallel mixed-methods study was guided by the following research questions: Primary Research Question 1 (RQ1) - What is the relationship between faculty-leader relationship and work engagement when controlling for faculty classification (lead faculty, full-time faculty, or part-time faculty), …

From Training To Adoption: A Study Of Technology Adoption After Video-Editing Training In Higher Education, Michelle Loo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis et al., 1989), this research examines the variables of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as predictors of video creation usage after software training. To gain a comprehensive understanding of the technology adoption process, the study also employed the Learning Adoption Trajectory Model (LATM) (Sherry et al., 2000), to explore how faculty and staff progress through different stages of technology adoption. Furthermore, the study examined whether the barrier of time, value to the department, and priority played a role in predicting the technology's usage.

The study employed a mixed-design approach, with …

A Study Of Gold Nanoparticles Of Different Sizes With Raman Labels For Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopic Detection, Melissa M. Hader

Undergraduate Honors Theses

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the second leading cause of death in the United States is cancer, with 602,350 cancer deaths in 2020. With the current cancer detection techniques, the detection of cancer is often at a stage when the cancer has progressed to dangerous levels. Therefore, being able to detect cancer at its early stages is pivotal and can be life altering for millions. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been widely explored in developing surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) techniques for early detection of cancer biomarkers. Using gold nanoparticles conjugated with Raman reporter molecules, SERS is a …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Nanocomposite Sensing Films For Breath Sensors, Tara Mercer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Lung cancer is one of the most common and fatal cancers today, infecting 1 in 16 people, and killing well over a million patients per year. Currently, lung cancer is detected usually in stages three and four by quite costly and invasive methods, which shows only a survival rate of 10%. Breath sensors provide a low-cost and non-invasive technique for early screening of lung cancer. The breath sensors use assemblies of gold nanoparticles to identify lung cancer, specifically by identifying and quantifying specific volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations found in the breath of lung cancer patients. This thesis describes a …