Digital Commons Network^™

St. Louis Regional Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy, Jennifer Kuriloff, Alex Marchok, Megan Ross, Qifeng Tian, Mahek Prakash Vora, Angela Yokley

Sustainability Exchange Projects

This semester the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Team (GHGRT) of the Sustainability Exchange program at Washington University in St. Louis was tasked with initial planning to decrease greenhouse gas emissions in the St. Louis area for OneSTL. To do so, GHGRT began by meeting with experts in the field, including Rene Dulle, Tim Michels, and Emily Andrews, to determine the best course of action and get insight into the situation as it stands. Based on this information, we decided to focus on building energy use and resulting carbon emissions. The team then researched energy use in the city of St. Louis …

International Pooled Patient-Level Meta-Analysis Of Ketamine Infusion For Depression: In Search Of Clinical Moderators, Rebecca B Price, Nicholas Kissel, Andrew Baumeister, Rebecca Rohac, Mary L Woody, Elizabeth D Ballard, Carlos A Zarate, William Deakin, Chadi G Abdallah, Adriana Feder, Dennis S Charney, Michael F Grunebaum, J John Mann, Sanjay J Mathew, Bronagh Gallagher, Declan M Mcloughlin, James W Murrough, Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, Rebecca Mcmillan, Rachael Sumner, George Papakostas, Maurizio Fava, Rebecca Hock, Jennifer L Phillips, Pierre Blier, Paulo Shiroma, Peter Šóš, Tung-Ping Su, Mu-Hong Chen, Mikael Tiger, Johan Lundberg, Samuel T Wilkinson, Meredith L Wallace

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Depression is disabling and highly prevalent. Intravenous (IV) ketamine displays rapid-onset antidepressant properties, but little is known regarding which patients are most likely to benefit, limiting personalized prescriptions. We identified randomized controlled trials of IV ketamine that recruited individuals with a relevant psychiatric diagnosis (e.g., unipolar or bipolar depression; post-traumatic stress disorder), included one or more control arms, did not provide any other study-administered treatment in conjunction with ketamine (although clinically prescribed concurrent treatments were allowable), and assessed outcome using either the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale or the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD-17). Individual patient-level data for at least …

Saxophone Studio Recital, Arkansas State University Department Of Music

Performance Programs

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Virtual Reality On Mental Health Software User Satisfaction And Retention, William Hooten

Honors Theses

Mental health issues have become increasingly important in today's society. With that being said, researchers and consumers are looking for new ways to manage and treat mental health using new technologies in labs and the consumer space. This innovation has led to the presence of mobile self-help mental health applications, applications for peoples’ phones that are used to manage symptoms of mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, track goals, meditate, and more. However, mobile mental health applications, and mobile applications in general, have a problem concerning user satisfaction and overall user retention – studies have shown that 95% …

Exploring The Effects Of Fatty Acids (Pufas) On The Antimicrobial Resistance In Vibrio Cholerae, Naina Patel

Honors Theses

As antibiotic resistance becomes a major challenge for public health professionals, our research objectives aimed to investigate the potential for polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to create membrane vulnerability in the gram-negative pathogen Vibrio cholerae to help improve the efficacy of several antibiotics. V. cholerae, normally residing in aquatic environments, is capable of altering its phospholipid composition through the uptake and assimilation of exogenous polyunsaturated fatty acids. The purpose of this study was to measure PUFA-mediated changes in the membrane permeability and antibiotic resistance of Vibrio cholerae. The three physiologically relevant PUFAs used were linoleic acid [18:2], arachidonic acid [20:4], and …

Neurotypes: Do Ocd, Adhd, And Autism Play A Role In Life Satisfaction?, Morgan Mcleod Evans

Honors Theses

OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) are neurotypes that impact every aspect of life, including daily activities and socialization, which is why they have been shown in prior studies to negatively impact life satisfaction. This study compared the levels of life satisfaction now and before the COVID-19 pandemic in young adults (n = 324) with typical neurotypes, those with only ASD (autism), with only OCD, with only ADHD, with two of the neurotypes, and with all three neurotypes. Contrary to predictions from prior research, life satisfaction did not decrease after the onset …

Beyond The Classroom: Building Professional Skills With The Flyaway Mural, Augusta Gaston

Honors Theses

In April of 2022, I completed a collaborative mural at Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Reflection Riding hosts a radio antenna connected to the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, which studies animal migration routes through North, Central, and South America. Working collaboratively with artists Rondell Crier, Tyus Allen, and Professor Derek Witucki, we designed and installed a mural that would communicate the Motus research to their visitors in the absence of a Reflection Riding employee. The project was funded by various grants awarded by ArtsBuild and The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and organized by budgets that …

Study Of Collective Self-Esteem And Academic Motivation Examining Perceptions Of Academic Statistics Of Black Traditional Undergraduate Students Attending A Pwi, Ariyah Robinson

Honors Theses

College enrollment for black traditional college-age students has been on the rise. Matriculation experienced a seven percent increase from 2000 to 2018 (NCES, 2020). However, Cokley et al. (2013) found that black students exhibit the highest minority stress among college students. Researchers also found that students may feel pressured to break stereotypes and perform well academically (Smith & Hope, 2020; Brooms, 2019; Mary et al., 2018). As more black students enroll in colleges nationwide, there is more than reasonable cause to continue examining how the matriculation of black students into predominantly white institutions impacts black students and their perceptions of …

Pattern Of Health Care Utilization And Cost Among Alzheimer's Emergency Department Patients In South Carolina, Caitlin Torrence

All Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) affect millions of people worldwide; however, there has yet to be a method of prevention or cure developed. In the United States (US) and other developed nations, healthcare utilization and cost associated with ADRD is pronounced. In 2018, healthcare costs totaled $259 billion in the US. The current system of care is fracturing under the pressure caused by ADRD and other illnesses. To begin addressing the public health crisis, this dissertation uses the South Carolina (SC) Alzheimer’s Disease Registry (AD Registry) and the SC Emergency Department (ED) Patient Encounter Data to analyze 11 years …

2022-December-01-Etsu Professor Named Vice President Of Pca, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University’s Dr. Elwood Watson, professor of history, Black American Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies whose writings and presentations have reached a wide audience, has been selected as the new vice president for Diversity, Outreach and Inclusion with The Popular Culture Association (PCA). 

Dr. Sue Matheson, president of the association and a professor at University College of the North, said: “We are pleased that Dr. Watson has accepted our request to serve in this most important position. The Governing Board is confident that Dr. Watson’s long record of service to the PCA, …

Tree Climbing Limb Saw, Andrew E. Bray, Parker Tenney, Drew M. Robles, Aimee T. Chiem

Mechanical Engineering

This document is the comprehensive report for the Tree Climbing Limb Saw Senior Project. The purpose of the Tree Climbing Limb Saw project, completed by mechanical engineers Andrew Bray, Aimee Chiem, Drew Robles, and Parker Tenney, is to remove low-hanging branches (<15 >ft) to prevent forest fires from travelling up into the canopy, where wind can carry embers for miles. An RC car was heavily modified to create a solution for this problem. A chainsaw was also mounted to deal with the cutting part of the problem. Creating a project which aims to solve this problem is a great step …

Compliance Through Model Checking, Avishkar Mahajan, Strecker Martin, Seng Joe Watt, Meng Weng (Huang Mingrong) Wong

Centre for Computational Law (2022-2025)

In this short note, we describe part of a case study about Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act, which we first presented in-formally, then formally as interacting Timed Automata. From these, we derive desiderata on a language and verification framework for reasoning about compliance.

Driving-Decision Making Of Autonomous Vehicle According To Queensland Overtaking Traffic Rules, Hanif Bhuiyan, Guido Governatori, Avishkar Mahajan, Andry Rakotonirainy, Meng Weng (Huang Mingrong) Wong

Centre for Computational Law (2022-2025)

Making a driving decision according to traffic rules is a challenging task for improving the safety of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs). Traffic rules often contain open texture expressions and exceptions, which makes it hard for AVs to follow them. This paper introduces a Defeasible Deontic Logic (DDL) baseddriving decision-making methodology for AVs. We use DDL to formalize traffic rules and facilitate automated reasoning. DDL is used to effectively handle rule exceptions and resolve open texture expressions in rules. Furthermore, we supplement the information provided by the traffic rules by an ontology for AV driving behaviour and environment information. This methodology performs …

Traffic Rule Formalization For Autonomous Vehicle, Hanif Bhuiyan, Guido Governatori, Andry Rakotonirainy, Meng Weng Wong, Avishkar Mahajan

Centre for Computational Law (2022-2025)

This study devised and implemented a Defeasible Deontic Logic (DDL)-based formalization approach for translating traffic rules into a machine-computable (M/C) format and thus solving rule issues: rule vagueness (open texture expressions) and exceptions in rules. The resulting M/C format of traffic rules can be utilized for automatic traffic rule reasoning to assist the Autonomous Vehicle (AV) in making legal decisions. The method incorporates the components and behaviour of regulations based on the rule's obligation, prohibition, and permission activities.

The need for the encoding methodology is motivated by the desire for automated reasoning over Autonomous Vehicle information involving traffic rules.

A …

Crash Severity Analysis And Risk Factors Identification Based On An Alternate Data Source: A Case Study Of Developing Country, Hanif Bhuiyan, Jinat Ara, Khan Md. Hasib, Md Imran Hossain Sourav, Faria Benta Karim, Cecilia Sik-Lanyi, Guido Governatori, Andry Rakotnirainy, Shansunnahar Yasmin

Centre for Computational Law (2022-2025)

Road traffic injuries are one of the primary reasons for death, especially in developing countries like Bangladesh. Safety in land transport is one of the major concerns for road safety authorities and other policymakers. For this reason, contributory factors identification associated with crashes is necessary for reducing road crashes and ensuring transportation safety. This paper presents an analytical approach to identifying significant contributing factors of Bangladesh road crashes by evaluating the road crash data, considering three different severity levels (non-fetal, severe, and extremely severe). Generally, official crash databases are compiled from police-reported crash records. Though the official datasets are focusing …

Rebranding My Cosmetics Business, Liaonn Martin

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The project is focused on rebranding my business by changing the name, creating a working website, as well as creating and selling different products I am passionate about. As part of the project I worked on making my Instagram page more appealing to bring in customers from all over the world, and using Instagram to promote my products. I also researched different ways to utilize platforms such as Tik Tok and Facebook to help my business become more popular. I created extra gifts such as thank you notes, complimentary lip scrubs, and a thank you note for all of my …

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 6, Number 12, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Therapeutic Exercise Programming For Nonspecific Low Back Pain, Kendal F. Huepper

Senior Honors Theses

Nonspecific low back pain is a prevalent cause of injury and disability in the world today. However, most people with this condition continue to live in discomfort because they do not know how reduce their pain. Exercise is one of the many ways that those with lumbar pain can find relief. By combining a wide variety of exercises that have been shown to reduce pain while increasing strength, range of motion, activity, and functionality, this thesis attempts to create an evidence-based generalized therapeutic exercise program that those with nonspecific low back pain can utilize to live an active and healthy …

Health And Socioeconomic Resource Provision For Older People In South Asian Countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan And Sri Lanka Evidence From Neesama, Natasha Roya Matthews, George James Porter, Mathew Varghese, Nidesh Sapkota, Murad Khan, Ammu Lukose, Stella-Maria Paddick, Malathie Dissanayake, Naila Zaman Khan, Richard Walker

Brain and Mind Institute

Background: The global population is ageing rapidly, with low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) undergoing a fast demographic transition. As the number of older adults in LMICs increases, services able to effectively address their physical and mental health needs will be increasingly important.

Objective: We review the health and socioeconomic resources currently available for older people in South Asian countries, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to identify gaps in available resources and assess areas for improvement.

Methods: We conducted a search of grey and published literature via Google Search, Compendex, EBSCO, JSTOR, Medline, Ovid, ProQuest databases, …

Academic Achievement And Degree Attainment Among College Students With Children., Katrina Elliott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) (National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.) from 2012 to 2017 acquired by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) survey program, this study addresses the research questions of whether there is a difference in degree attainment of earning a bachelor’s degree in the time period from 2012 through 2017 and whether there is a difference in academic achievement as defined by students’ grade point average between students who have dependent children and those who do not have dependent children between the ages 18 to 29 attending a four-year institution after …

The Role Of Generative Adversarial Networks In Bioimage Analysis And Computational Diagnostics., Ahmed Naglah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computational technologies can contribute to the modeling and simulation of the biological environments and activities towards achieving better interpretations, analysis, and understanding. With the emergence of digital pathology, we can observe an increasing demand for more innovative, effective, and efficient computational models. Under the umbrella of artificial intelligence, deep learning mimics the brain’s way in learn complex relationships through data and experiences. In the field of bioimage analysis, models usually comprise discriminative approaches such as classification and segmentation tasks. In this thesis, we study how we can use generative AI models to improve bioimage analysis tasks using Generative Adversarial Networks …

A Welfare Comparison Of Historical Cost And Fair Value Accounting Regimes, Palmer Edholm

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

With ongoing controversy concerning fair value and historical cost accounting, existing accounting theory is focused on intra-firm decision making and is thus deficient in addressing the issue of maximizing social welfare. I propose models of historical cost and fair value accounting regimes which are embedded in models of monopoly and oligopoly. This allows for social welfare implications. I find that historical cost results in greater expected profits for both monopolists and oligopolists. However, if the market is elastic enough, a fair value regimes is welfare enhancing. Whereas, if the market is inelastic enough, historical cost is welfare enhancing.

Examining The Relationship Between Different Retail Mediums And Consumer Spending Habits, Melinda Vigh

University Honors Program Senior Projects

Understanding customer behavior and preferences is the first step towards developing optimal strategies for businesses and driving the highest revenues possible. Consumer behavior spending habits are everchanging due to the evolving nature of customers’ needs and preferences. This thesis fills the gap of a quantitative analysis between the in-person and online retail medium reflected onto levels of customer spending. This research provides further information about shoppers’ decision-making processes accounting for correlative relationships between demographic (age, gender, education level, income, etc.) and environmental variables (physical store atmospheres, online retail websites, social media advertisement). The research was based on primary data collected …

An Analysis Of Reconstruction Era Policies As Partially Extending The Rights Of Citizenship To Freedmen, Jonathan Tise

University Honors Program Senior Projects

The purpose of this study is to examine the policies enacted during the Reconstruction Era of the United States with regards to their effectiveness at promoting and protecting the civil liberties of the newly freed population. Examining federal and local policies and statutes, along with a detailed examination of United States v. Cruikshank, will provide much insight into whether or not the newly freed black population was actually granted the rights and liberties they were owed and promised. The research will consist of a synthesis of existing literature surrounding local and federal policies and statutes such as the 13th 14th …

Smartphone As An Edge For Context-Aware Real-Time Processing For Personal E-Health, Muhammad Bangash

University Honors Program Senior Projects

The medical domain is facing an ongoing challenge of how patients can share their health information and timeline with healthcare providers. This involves secure sharing, diverse data types, and formats reported by healthcare-related devices. A multilayer framework can address these challenges in the context of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). This framework utilizes smartphone sensors, external services, and medical devices that measure vital signs and communicate such real-time data with smartphones. The smartphone serves as an “edge device” to visualize, analyze, store, and report context- aware data to the cloud layer. Focusing on medical device connectivity, mobile security, data …

The Impact Of Intervention Programs For Teenagers At Risk Among Middle And High School Students In Southeast Missouri, Bryan Austin

Dissertations

At-risk students have been noted to be exposed to high cases of early school dropout, late graduation, poor academic performance, and engagement in risky behaviors, such as drug and substance abuse. While research has reported poor transition to future careers and adult life among at-risk students, little is known regarding intervention programs used in Missouri schools to motivate at-risk students. The objective of this study was to investigate intervention programs being used to retain and engage at-risk middle and high school teenagers in Missouri and identify effective intervention programs that might help promote their success in school and subsequent transition …

Neonate, Infant, And Child Mortality In North Africa And Middle East By Cause: An Analysis For The Global Burden Of Disease Study 2019, Sadaf G. Sepanlou, Hossein Rezaei Aliabadi, Reza Malekzadeh, Ali. A. Asadi-Pooya

Global Health Articles

Background: During the past three decades, neonate, infant, and child mortality declined in North Africa and Middle East. However, there is substantial heterogeneity in mortality rates across countries.

Methods: This study is part of the Global Burden of Diseases study (GBD) 2019. We report the number as well as mortality rates for neonates, infants, and children by cause across 21 countries in the region since 1990.

Results: Between 1990 and 2019, the neonate mortality rate in the region declined from 31.9 (29.8, 34.0) to 12.2 (11.1, 13.3) per 1000 live births. Respective figures for under 5 mortality rates (U5MRs) were …

The Student Movement Volume 107 Issue 10: Finals Week Is About To Get Messi, Gloria Oh, Nora Martin, Amelia Stefanescu, Solana Campbell, Abraham Bravo, Ceiry Flores, Hannah Cruse, Andrew Francis, Bella Hamann, Gabriela Francisco, Valerie Akinyi, Ruben Colón, Charisse Lapuebla, Alannah Tjhatra

The Student Movement v. 107 (2022-2023)

HUMANS

Introducing Active Minds Club, Gloria Oh

Women in STEM: Bia Martins, Interviewed by: Nora Martin

Women in STEM: Davielle Smith, Interviewed by: Gloria Oh

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Art Majors at AU: Graphic Design, Amelia Stefanescu

Currently..., Solana Campbell

Immersed in a Musical Wonderland, Abraham Bravo

What did AU Watch over Break?. Ceiry Flores

NEWS

Act 22 and Statehood: What is the Answer to Puerto Rico's problems?, Hannah Cruse

AU Abroad "Shark Tank" Winners Prepare for Spring Start, Andrew Francis

Student Debt Cancellation: Updates and Thought, Gloria Oh

IDEAS

From Cover to Cover: Braking out of the Adventist Bubble, Bella …

Taxonomic Species Recognition Should Be Consistent, Stephen James O'Brien, Shu-Jin Luo

Biology Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

(R1509) Topsis And Vikor Methods For Spherical Fuzzy Soft Set Aggregating Operator Framework, M. Palanikumar, K. Arulmozhi, Lejo J. Manavalan

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

The Spherical Fuzzy Soft (SFS) set is a generalization of the Pythagorean fuzzy soft set and the intuitionistic fuzzy soft set. We introduce the concept of aggregating SFS decision matrices based on aggregated operations. The techniques for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and viekriterijumsko kompromisno rangiranje (VIKOR) for the SFS approaches are the strong points of multi criteria group decision making (MCGDM), which is various extensions of fuzzy soft sets. We define a score function based on aggregating TOPSIS and VIKOR methods to the SFS-positive and SFS-negative ideal solutions. The TOPSIS and VIKOR methods provide decision-making …