Digital Commons Network^™

Competency Vs Concept Based Education In Nursing Programs, Amber L. Simmons

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Competency based education helps to develop skills for nursing students to help them prepare for graduation and the workforce. Concept based nursing delivers knowledge to students and can help to build some clinical judgement and critical thinking. Globally there is a shift moving toward competency-based education attempting to allow nursing students appropriately apply their conceptual knowledge in a clinical setting.

Views And Experiences Regarding Workplace Genetic Testing: Findings From A National Survey Of U.S. Employees., Drew Blasco, Sarah Mccain, Subhamoy Pal, Wendy R Uhlmann, Rebecca Ferber, Kunal Sanghavi, Elizabeth Charnysh, Anya E R Prince, Charles Lee, J Scott Roberts, Insight @ Work Consortium

Faculty Research 2026

The emergence of voluntary health-related genetic testing in workplace wellness programs indicates a need to understand employees’ views and experiences regarding workplace genetic testing (wGT). A large, diverse national sample of employed adults (N=2000; median age=43 years; 51.1% female; 33% non-white) completed a web survey of their wGT views and experiences. Although 80% of participants indicated their employer did not offer wGT, 54.1% were interested in testing, especially (somewhat/very) for cancer (89.2%), heart disease (93.1%), and Alzheimer’s disease (85.3%). Characteristics associated with wGT interest included younger age (< 55 years), Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, genetic testing experience or familiarity, and a positive family medical history (all p< 0.05). Reasons for pursuing wGT (e.g., inform health behaviors) were endorsed more frequently than reasons for declining (e.g., insurance/employability concerns). Among participants offered wGT (20%), 60% indicated having undergone testing. Test uptake was associated with personal medical history, greater familiarity with genetic testing, and self-reported physical health (all p< 0.05). A minority of employed adults surveyed reported being offered, or having had, wGT. Nevertheless, many employees are potentially interested in wGT, particularly for common diseases. Although employees have wGT concerns, many view it as beneficial to inform health behaviors and decisions.

Views And Experiences Regarding Workplace Genetic Testing: Findings From A National Survey Of U.S. Employees., Drew Blasco, Sarah Mccain, Subhamoy Pal, Wendy R Uhlmann, Rebecca Ferber, Kunal Sanghavi, Elizabeth Charnysh, Anya E R Prince, Charles Lee, J Scott Roberts, The Insight @ Work Consortium

Faculty Research 2026

The emergence of voluntary health-related genetic testing in workplace wellness programs indicates a need to understand employees’ views and experiences regarding workplace genetic testing (wGT). A large, diverse national sample of employed adults (N=2000; median age=43 years; 51.1% female; 33% non-white) completed a web survey of their wGT views and experiences. Although 80% of participants indicated their employer did not offer wGT, 54.1% were interested in testing, especially (somewhat/very) for cancer (89.2%), heart disease (93.1%), and Alzheimer’s disease (85.3%). Characteristics associated with wGT interest included younger age (< 55 years), Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, genetic testing experience or familiarity, and a positive family medical history (all p< 0.05). Reasons for pursuing wGT (e.g., inform health behaviors) were endorsed more frequently than reasons for declining (e.g., insurance/employability concerns). Among participants offered wGT (20%), 60% indicated having undergone testing. Test uptake was associated with personal medical history, greater familiarity with genetic testing, and self-reported physical health (all p< 0.05). A minority of employed adults surveyed reported being offered, or having had, wGT. Nevertheless, many employees are potentially interested in wGT, particularly for common diseases. Although employees have wGT concerns, many view it as beneficial to inform health behaviors and decisions.

Junior Recital: Sam Kapus, Flute; March 21, 2026, Sam Kapus, Lu Witzig

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and twenty-second program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

March 21, 2026

Saturday Evening

6:00 p.m.

Keirkegaard And The Algorithm, John Egan

Philosophy Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

2026 Iupc Program, Philosophy Department

Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at Providence College

No abstract provided.

Modelling Enablers And Barriers To Improve Uptake Of A Fruit And Vegetable Voucher Scheme (The Fresh Street Community) In England:: A Tism-Micmac Approach, Jiang Pan, Clare Relton, Lisa Howard, Lisa Howard, Aira Ong, Louise Hunt, Paridhi Garg, Jane Bradbeer, Manik Puranik, Rachel Sutton, Carol Wagstaff, Clare Pettinger

School of Health Professions

Background: Improving equitable access to fresh fruit and vegetables (FV) remains a critical public health priority in the UK, particularly in low-income communities where affordability, accessibility, and social barriers limit healthy food choices. The Fresh Street Community scheme, a place-based FV voucher initiative in England, aims to enhance dietary equity by enabling households to purchase fresh produce from local community centres. Building on prior feasibility research, this study applies a systems-modelling approach to explore how multiple enablers and barriers interact to influence scheme uptake and sustainability.Methods: Using Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) combined with MICMAC analysis, we engaged research team …

The Difficulty With Setting A Standard Based On Difficulty: The Role Of Validity In Determining Assessment Standards., Steven Burr, Daniel Zahra, Iain M Robinson

Peninsula Medical School

When setting standards for high-stakes assessments, it is necessary to be clear whether the primary criterion should be importance or difficulty. While standard setting practices frequently rely on the difficulty to determine passing or failing thresholds, this can undermine the intended inferences and uses of assessments. Standard setting based on difficulty conflates importance with subjective perceptions of difficulty, misguiding decisions about what candidates need to demonstrate for safe and effective practice. We explore several reasons why difficulty does not align with the aims of assessment and how prioritising importance can better reflect the intended uses and inferences of a test. …

Takiea Shontae Webb

African American Funeral Programs

No abstract provided.

Eligibility For Amyloid Targeting Therapies Among Primary Care Patients With Cognitive Symptoms, Beata Borgström Bolmsjö, Josef Barbosa Djärf, Danielle Van Westen, Suzanne E Schindler, Ayesha Fawad, Lyduine Collij, Ruben Smith, Niklas Mattsson-Carlgren, Erik Stomrud, Pontus Tideman, Oskar Hansson, Sebastian Palmqvist

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia and a growing healthcare challenge. Amyloid-targeting therapies (ATT) may slow progression, but implementation is limited by logistical and economic barriers. As primary care is the first contact for most patients with cognitive concerns, quantifying treatment eligibility in this setting is essential. The purpose of this study was to estimate the proportion of primary care patients presenting with cognitive symptoms who are eligible for ATT. METHODS: This cohort study included patients presenting with cognitive symptoms in primary care across the region Skåne, in southern Sweden, recruited between January 2020 and …

Severe Familial Chylomicronemia Syndrome With Refractory Hypertriglyceridemia And Multisystem Complications Managed With Chronic Plasmapheresis And Olezarsen: A Case Report, Christopher M. Ahmad, Rae-Anne Kastle, Hima Patel, Samira R. Haberman, Miriana Youkhana

Student Publications

Familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) is a rare, inherited lipid disorder characterized by severe hypertriglyceridemia and a risk of recurrent pancreatitis. Patients with biallelic pathogenic variants affecting lipoprotein lipase (LPL)-mediated triglyceride metabolism may remain refractory to conventional lipid-lowering therapies and strict dietary control, leading to recurrent critical illness and progressive multisystem complications.

We report a female patient with genetically confirmed FCS and persistent triglyceride levels typically in the 4,000-5,000 mg/dL range despite adherence to diet and lipid-lowering therapy, without clear secondary contributors to severe hypertriglyceridemia. Her course included recurrent intensive care unit (ICU) admissions for hypertriglyceridemia-associated pancreatitis requiring insulin drips, with …

Optimizing Warranty Policies For Remanufactured Products: When Should They Be Longer, Shorter, Or Identical To New Product Warranties?, Kunpeng Li, Jun-Yeon Lee

Faculty Publications

Manufacturers adopt different warranty strategies for remanufactured products, offering shorter, identical, or longer warranty periods compared to new products. However, prior research has only focused on manufacturers offering either shorter or identical warranties. In addition, the existing literature has not captured the diminishing returns of warranties, i.e., as the warranty coverage increases, its incremental benefits begin to decrease but the costs continue to increase. To address these gaps, we develop an optimization model that jointly considers pricing and warranty decisions while accounting for warranty’s diminishing effect on consumer’s willingness to pay for remanufactured products. We show that all three observed …

Analogy2kg: An Automatic Pipeline For Deriving Knowledge Graphs From Long-Text Analogies, Kara Combs, Lance E. Champagne, Bruce A. Cox, Christine M. Schubert Kabban, Trevor Bihl, Grace Lemming

Faculty Publications

Analogical reasoning is an increasingly popular, lightweight solution to enable large language model (LLM)-level reasoning without computational complexity. Still, it has yet to be adopted due to its reliance on strictly hand-formatted data. Therefore, we propose Analogy2KG (“Analogy to Knowledge Graph”), as an automatic pipeline that transforms text into a KG format via a fine-tuned version of information extraction (IE) algorithms for long-text analogies. The need to verify that the complex underlying analogical structure of the data is maintained was done via paired samples tests in the creation and validation of this pipeline. Graph density was used to evaluate the …

Graduate Honors Former Professors, Bill Dabney

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss. – A $100,000 gift to the University of Mississippi will name two faculty offices in the new Patterson School of Accountancy.

Evaluating The Effect Of Rna Interference Of X-Box Binding Protein 1 (Xbp1) On Survival And Fecundity In Acyrthosiphon Pisum, James Balthazor, Jacob Lutgen

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Acyrthosiphon pisum (pea aphid) is a major pest of Fabaceae (legume) crops, causing direct feeding damage and transmitting plant viruses. Conventional control relies on broad-spectrum insecticides and natural enemies, both of which can harm non-target organisms and ecosystems. RNA interference (RNAi) offers a promising, species-specific alternative by silencing essential genes via double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). This study targeted X-Box Binding Protein 1 (XBP1), a key transcription factor in the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) pathway that regulates proper protein folding in the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER). This chaperone promotes folding of newly synthesized polypeptides and helps manage misfolded proteins. Silencing the XBP1 gene …

Awe Only At What You See, Thomas Marinelli

Philosophy Student Scholarship

The sublime, as developed by Immanuel Kant in Critique of Judgment and later framed and deconstructed by Jacques Derrida in The Truth in Painting, is much like admiring a view—standing before the ocean, seeing nothing but an endless expanse of water stretching beyond the horizon. Yet this vastness is only visible through the lens of our own perception. Imagine being placed in the middle of that ocean, surrounded by nothing: a sensation of weight, anxiety, perhaps even freedom and clarity, might emerge—a powerful emotion never before felt. That situation itself is not the sublime; rather, it is the feeling, the …

Gnsi Decision Brief: The Three-Body Trap: The New Geometry Of Nuclear Deterrence, Seong-Hyon Lee

GNSI Decision Briefs

In the astrophysics of orbital mechanics, the “Two-Body Problem” – predicting the gravitational interaction between two objects, such as the Earth and the Moon – is mathematically solvable. The system is stable, the orbits are predictable, and the variables are calculable. However, if a third independent object of sufficient mass is introduced, the system becomes non-linear and highly unpredictable. As proven by mathematician Henri Poincaré in 1887, no single formula can solve for long-term stability in a three-body system. For eight decades, since the dawn of the nuclear age, global security operated on “Two-Body” physics. The United States and the …

Taller Para Maestros: La Música Como Espejo De La Identidad Hispana En Ee.Uu., Dra. Sonia Balasch

LAII Events

En este taller interactivo se compartirán recursos prácticos y estrategias dinámicas para explorar la identidad personal y la colectiva de estudiantes de Spanish Language Arts (SLA). Usando música fronteriza y otros géneros creados por hispanos en suelo estadounidense, se invita a reflexionar sobre el papel de la música como espejo de la identidad hispana en los Estados Unidos. Los asistentes contarán con herramientas concretas y adaptables a diferentes contextos para integrar la dimensión cultural en el aula, fortaleciendo el sentido de pertenencia y comunidad.

Sonia Balasch es doctora en Lingüística Hispánica por la Universidad de Nuevo Mexico y tiene una …

Pearl Burns

African American Funeral Programs

Program for the funeral of Pearl Burns, held at Simmons Branch Missionary Baptist Church on March 21, 2026.

Christine Polk Moore

African American Funeral Programs

Program for the funeral of Christine Polk Moore, held at Old Bethel Primitive Baptist Church on March 21, 2026.

Daniels Distinction Portfolio By Maeve Hoffert, Maeve Hoffert

Business Information and Analytics: Undergraduate Distinction Portfolios

A Daniels Distinction Portfolio of experiential education by Maeve Hoffert.

Analyzing Methods To Support Students Left Behind In Colorado Primary/Secondary Schools, Grace Hudson

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

In the United States, there has been an increase of deportations, since 2024, of undocumented immigrants. This has disproportionally affected Mexicans and others from Latin American countries (Dreby 2012) due to them being the largest group of undocumented people in the United States. One effect of these deportations is an increase in children that are left in the United States while their parent(s) are in detention or have been deported. Some of these children are in mixed-status families, which means that the child has a different citizenship status than their parents or other members in their family, which allows for …

Senior Recital: Neil Alford, Voice; March 21, 2026, Neil Alford, Pepe Guillen Prados

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and twenty-third program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

March 21, 2026

Saturday Evening

7:30 p.m.

Addressing The Problems Of Data Variations, Quality, And Scarcity In Training Deep Neural Networks, Jian Sun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The performance of deep neural networks (DNNs) is strongly influenced by the characteristics and quality of the underlying datasets. This Ph.D. dissertation addresses three pervasive data challenges-imbalance, quality degradation, and scarcity-that commonly hinder the effectiveness of DNNs in computer vision (CV) and natural language processing (NLP) applications.

Class imbalance remains one of the most frequent causes of degraded model generalization. While Focal Loss effectively mitigates inter-class imbalance by assigning higher weights to minority classes, it struggles with intra-class imbalance, particularly in video datasets where longer clips dominate feature representation. To address this, I implement and utilize …

Contribution Of G4 Structure To Alzheimer’S Disease And Tau Pathology, Lena Michaela Kallweit

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The occurrence of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is rapidly increasing as our global population ages. With the majority of therapeutic drugs in the last couple of decades failing clinical trials, new molecular targets are needed to combat the expected influx of new AD cases. AD pathogenesis is associated with abnormal protein aggregation, characterized in part by intracellular accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau) in neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). RNA has been identified as a major non-proteinaceous component of NFTs and has been implicated as an active cofactor in tau aggregation and spread. Recent work has shown that aggregates from AD brains contain almost …

Critical Roles And Critical Rolls: A Frame-Analytical Perspective Of Self-Making, Safe Spaces, And Worldbuilding In Tabletop Role-Playing Games, Cal Quayle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many gamers prefer to play tabletop roleplaying games, or TTRPGs, in order to a) join a community, and b) tell a story collaboratively with friends and acquaintances. This thesis discusses selfhood-making, safe spaces, and allegory in imaginary worlds from the perspective of Erving Goff man’s frame analysis. It relies on a theoretical framework of imagined communities, the magic circle, and subcreation. This research culminated in the understanding that people play TTRPGs for a variety of reasons - collaborative storytelling and exercising critical thinking skills, but respondents overwhelmingly reported that they enjoyed the ability to socialize with friends and strangers, and …

Bridging Professional Development Gaps In Pacrao Through Gamification, Chad Everett Saunders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the extent to which a gamified professional development platform can foster skill development, knowledge application, and engagement among members of the Pacific Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (PACRAO). Grounded in the principles of humanism (Rogers, 1969) and andragogy (Knowles, 1990), and operationalized through gamification (Kapp, 2012), this study evaluated whether game-based mechanics aligned with adult learners’ professional development needs within a geographically dispersed regional association. To address these constraints, a prototype gamified platform, PACRAO University, was developed to provide a flexible, self-paced, and contextually relevant learning environment. Using a quantitative, within-subjects repeated measures design, …

Problematizing The Critical Dimensions Of Whiteness With Educational Leaders, Lerita Yvette Cavness

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This action research examines whether and how whiteness is “weaponized” by a P-12 educational leader, the impact whiteness has on their identities, and whether engagement with Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) will increase pro-equity behaviors. The research employs a layered mixed-methods approach, and a deductive analysis triangulation plan framed by the Critical Dimensions of Whiteness Model (CDWM). This N-of-1 case study included a four-phase intervention workshop series and one post interview. The findings identify how one educational leader engaged in the selfweaponization of whiteness. The findings identify that CWS supported by the CDWM is a disruptive but healing path to awareness …

Social Control And Neglect At A Crossroads: Unpacking The Interactive Effects Of Residential Segregation And Violence On Pretrial Detention, Paige Vaughn, Joshua H. Williams

Faculty Publications

Racial segregation and violent crime are both important predictors of jurisdiction-level criminal justice outcomes, yet little research has examined their influences on front-end detention patterns and how they may interact to shape local punishment practices. The current study uses official sources and Vera Institute of Justice data spanning 1496 decennial county-years (374 counties from 1980 to 2010) to examine the independent and combined effects of county-level racial segregation and violent crime on pretrial detention rates. Drawing on group threat and minority neglect arguments, we find that high segregation levels are associated with neglect, especially in violent areas. Reduced segregation between …

Holding Isps Accountable? Secondary Liability And The Impact Of Cox V. Sony, Emma Steffes

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) Blog

The Supreme Court is currently considering a case that could significantly affect current secondary liability principles under copyright law: Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment. The case poses a deceptively simple question: asking when an internet service provider should be legally responsible for the illegal actions of its users? The answer could reshape the relationship between copyright owners, internet companies, and all online users.