Indonesia, the world's largest archipelagic state, is prone to natural disasters because of its position within the Ring of Fire. As a nation of islands seemingly always vulnerable to natural disasters, there is a dire need for effective mental health and psychosocial interventions, including art...
Ecocentrism is the amalgamation of demonstrated attitudes and actions toward environmental sustainability, as well as toward equitable interspecies relationships between humans and other living things. Ecocentrism is a subjective and optional ideology which a society may adopt, as is religion,...
Overwhelming evidence has shown that well-delivered Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs are essential to the short-term and long-term improvements in academic achievement, social skills, and mental health of students across ages and abilities. SEL has become a growing priority for...
Learning embedding functions, which map semantically related images to nearby locations in a feature space supports a variety of image retrieval tasks. In this work, we propose a novel, generalizable and fast method to define a family of embedding functions that can be used as an ensemble to give...
In large part due to the clouded and inarticulate nature of moral ambiguity, many questions surrounding inaction during the Holocaust remain unanswered. Yet it is possible that more still remain unasked. Since the 1990s, several academics have noted that the passive complicity of European...
Over the past twenty years, there has been a growing movement of universities in the United States acknowledging and addressing their historic ties to slavery. Evidence presented by these universities and by outside researchers irrefutably demonstrates that higher education institutions in the...
Solar wind, caused by charged particles which erupted from solar flares and associated coronal mass ejections into space during the peak of intensity of the sun's cycle. The shock wave and/or cloud of magnetic field generated by the solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetic field. The...
Background: Higher education has been considered a mainstay for economic self-sufficiency and responsible citizenship. A considerable amount of Western research has identified student engagement as a key element for understanding and predicting students' learning outcomes. However, due to...
Previous gene expression studies in melanoma have revealed that several signaling pathways are modulated by specific histone deacetylases (HDAC). Among them, HDAC6 has been shown to tightly control antigen presentation and other immunomodulatory functions. We aim to investigate the effect of...
As sea level continues to rise, saltwater intrusion is threatening agricultural fields. The traditional 3-year crop rotation of the Lower Easter Shore of Maryland is not tolerant to high salinity levels. This study aims to better understand crop seed response to saltwater intrusion and determine...
Recent political discourse argues that the International Community needs to take a firmer stand on ending gender-based violence (GBV) as a consequence of war. Yet the existing literature suggests that governmental policy prescriptions are less effective than grassroots programs and local policy...
Evolutionary trade-offs in trait function constrain how organisms interact with their environment. The canopy environment is structurally complex, with foraging surfaces of a range of sizes and orientations, and often dominated by ants. Nevertheless, little is known about how ants use canopy...
In many natural and industrial multiphase flows, the suspended phase often disperses into drops of varied sizes and shapes. The drops deform along with the flow and at the same time influence the background flow. In the case of a dilute emulsion with negligible drop-drop interactions, a single...
Breast and ovarian cancers are known as one of the most aggressive types of cancers, either originating from DNA mutations, or hormone over-expression. Cancer involves the disruption of a cell-signaling pathway that affects cell life cycle, such as uncontrollable growth or loss of death....
Since studying in Santiago, Chile, during the spring of 2018, I have been interested in learning more about Chile's transition from a 17-year dictatorship to the democracy that it is today. More specifically, I want to study the human rights abuses committed during Augusto Pinochet's regime, and...
The purpose of this study was to determine if the information present in the texture of tumor regions in the pre-treatment PET-CT scans of Head-and-Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma patients can be a useful measure of the efficacy of radiation therapy in their treatment. We have now extended our study...
Understanding Climate Change is important from a practical perspective, because it is related to the environment we live in and the health of the planet. Understanding Climate Change is also important from an academic perspective because it is related to public opinion on politics and economics....
Intervention Fidelity (IF) is often used in treatment trials to examine the extent to which an
intervention is delivered in the way it was intended to be, in order to assess effectiveness of
treatment outcomes. The current study examined IF in the context of evaluating an intervention
to...
The association between coparenting quality and children's externalizing and internalizing behavior problems was investigated in a sample of low-income, racially diverse mothers. The potential mediating effect of parenting style was also examined.
Understanding the extent to which machine learning can be used to classify images is a hot topic in artificial intelligence. Applications range from human medicine, to the automatic identification of items in an online marketplace, through to national security issues related to risk assessment....
How does public mobilization affect reporting of violence against women (VAW)? I investigate this question in light of a brutal gang rape incident that took place in Delhi in December 2012 and catapulted all of India into a public outcry. Protests and demonstrations of an unprecedented magnitude...
This phenomenological study seeks to explore the lived experiences that have led Millennials through a meaning-making process to discover their callings. The primary research question framing this study addresses what the relationship is between Millennials' meaning-making process and the...
The modern space economy is organized and facilitated by a complex array of international treaties and principles, domestic legislation and initiatives, governmental and corporate policies and traditions, and the particulars of party-to-party cooperative agreements, memoranda of understanding,...
In the wild, Drosophila melanogaster is exposed to ethanol as a result of yeast fermentation of the sugar that is found in its natural food source, fruit. Previous work in our lab found that diet-induced ethanol exposure created heritable epigenetic changes in subsequent generations. Here, I...
As countries throughout the world struggle to legalize same-sex marriage, in Egypt, suspected homosexuals are regularly arrested, tortured, and disenfranchised for their sexuality. However, existing research on Egypt and homosexuality has shown that the violently anti-LGBT+ Egyptian narrative is...
Across all vertebrates, hematopoiesis (blood cell development) occurs in designated sites. In the Xenopus laevis frog, the main site for hematopoiesis is thought to be the liver periphery (LP). However, macrophage precursors are not found in the LP and instead they reside in the bone marrow....
Background: Over the past decade the US has seen significant shifts in marijuana policy with some states having no marijuana legalization (NML), some passing medical marijuana laws (MML) and others passing recreational marijuana laws (RML). Previous literature, which has focused almost...
Chemical and product manufacturers, spurred by recent environmental and sustainability initiatives, are seeking to embrace alternatives assessment to identify suitable alternative chemicals that are safer and more sustainable for use in consumer and/or specialty products. In this process, it is...
Existing research has demonstrated the positive effect transformational leadership has on diversity management in organizations; however, limited research has been conducted that explores this relationship with regard to sexual orientation and gender identity diversity specifically. This study...
Through the use of surveys, this study aimed to examine the correlation between The Real Housewives reality television show (TRH) viewing and the approval of verbal and physical aggression, with the hypotheses that viewing will positively correlate with the approval of verbal and physical...
This study explores the effect of ecological factors such as plant density, shade, location, and vulnerability to foot traffic on the health of plant-pollinator relationship. By monitoring numerous pollinator populations during Summer of 2018, we gained an understanding of GW's current...
The topic of this study is centered on students with intellectual disabilities; in particular, its focus is on those individuals who have Down syndrome. One of the primary debates revolving around the treatment of people with intellectual disabilities is whether or not they should be educated in...
Introduction The association between maternal depressive symptoms and adverse child outcomes (Goodman et al., 2001) may be moderated by father involvement (Mezulis et al., 2004). These associations are understudied among low-income, unmarried or non-cohabiting African American families. We...
Parasympathetic cholinergic neurons produce acetylcholine and are found in the central and peripheral nervous system. The structure and function of parasympathetic cholinergic neurons that innervate the heart remains incompletely understood. It was hypothesized that cardiac cholinergic neurons...
The US and China are competing in Africa for investment opportunities, particularly in the energy sector, as African countries seek investment from both countries to drive infrastructure development. This can be seen in projects such as the Chinese-backed Bui Dam hydroelectric project and the...
In 1984, knot theory was revolutionized with the discovery of the Jones polynomial. Fifteen years later, with several questions about it still unanswered, the polynomial was categorified into what is presently known as Khovanov homology. Parts of the Przytycki-Sazdanovic braid conjecture state...
Although reports indicate that a majority of students in Uganda are sexually abused while in school, sexual harassment and its impact on educational attainment is a rampant yet understudied problem (The Uganda National Strategic Plan on Violence Against Children in Schools, 2015). While...
The study of classical Greek pottery has long been a cornerstone in the fields of classical archaeology and art history, but much past scholarship has focused on surface decoration of vessels, studying the iconography, styles, techniques, and processes that produced the elaborately painted...
This project explores the uses of a new method of research in the field of ecological economics. It was developed by Friend. She developed what she calls a "policy compass', and adapted it to ecological economics. The data from a table is represented in a completely aggregated form as one arrow...
Metastatic melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer and is the sixth most common cancer, of all age groups in the USA. Introduction of BRAF inhibitors and cancer immunotherapy has greatly improved treatment of melanoma, however, the problem of tumour relapse and therapy resistance persists. A...
The harvestmen of the family Neopilionidae are represented by 64 described species in 20 genera and are distributed across temperate Gondwana in Chile, Argentina, southern Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The family has the potential to be a valuable biogeographic model for New...
Objective: Bilateral art therapy has been shown to promote sensory awareness, which may contribute to emotional regulation. By activating and integrating both right and left brain processes through bilateral stimulation, it is possible to acknowledge internal disturbance, process traumatic...
Innovation - - the implementation of creative ideas - - is one of the most important factors of competitive advantage in 21st century organizations. Yet, leaders do not always encourage employee behaviors that are critical for innovation. We integrate existing literature on the critical factors...
Similarity detection, which answers whether two codes are similar or not, has been widely used for binary vulnerability detection. Existing approaches face two challenges to achieve high accuracy and coverage: compiler and source code induced syntax similarity. Compiler induced syntax similarity...
The differences between American community banks and more well-known large financial institutions have long been overlooked in the financial and regulatory environment. Despite the importance community banks provide to small-businesses, agricultural industry and in increasing financial literacy...
In the past decade, there have been large, national, population-based surveys which gathered information about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations, such as the 2014 Gallup Daily Tracking Survey and the 2015 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). These surveys, however,...
A 30-year-old woman was found stabbed in her home. She was found lying face down and the stab entrance wounds were found in the back of her denim jacket. There were slight bloodstain patterns on the wall next to her but due to the placement of the stab wound in the jacket, the bloodstain pattern...
The US-born anti-sexual harassment campaign, the #MeToo movement, has received attention around the globe, and has made its way from West to East. However, in China, #MeToo faces unique social-political challenges, and has turned into a different animal compare to its counterparts elsewhere. This...
Recently, the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) as a typical deep learning technique has been widely used in many image processing applications such as classification, recognition, segmentation and image reconstruction and achieved remarkable success. We have applied CNN to segment the breast...
An estimated 5 million to 7.5 million students are chronically absent within the US. Chronic absenteeism (CA) is highly correlated with academic success, achievement, grade retention, and dropout rates. Further, low income and minority students are more likely to be chronically absent,...
Nepal is the site of many national and international human rights development measures focused on the country's gender and sexual minorities (SGM). Given the significant impact those development efforts have on SGM and Nepali society, national and international development actors need to...
We study the stability of a class of three-field mixed finite element methods for nonlinear elasticity called CSFEMs near regular solutions. To this end, we write suitable material-independent and material-dependent inf-sup conditions. The material-independent condition is only a necessary...
Background: Cardiovascular diseases remain the primary cause of death worldwide. Several epidemiologic and investigative studies have shown the evidence of sex hormones effect on cardiac electrophysiology through genomic regulation. However, very little is known about the molecular basis for...
To help achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4, "Quality Education," this study examines school leadership within the education system in India. UNICEF and UNESCO described quality education as: "quality of learning [that] should be assessed by the capacity of individuals in their childhood,...
Sexual deviants often experience intense social isolation due to the stigmatization their behaviors elicit in the public sphere. Online environments may have a liberating effect on these historically marginalized sexual communities by allowing members to negotiate their deviant identities,...
Background and Motivation: From the cry of an infant to the Gettysburg address, the human voice is a powerful instrument in society. However, abnormal functioning of the phonatory system can lead to vocal fold disorders that impair voiced speech, such as polyps, nodules, and tissue bowing....
Military and political leaders report the U.S. military is experiencing a suicide epidemic. Despite efforts to thwart it, recent evidence shows the suicide rate among military personnel is at its highest since 2012. An emerging area of academic and clinical interest, the study of moral injury and...
Since 1993, Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) has been at the forefront of building sustainability and has reshaped the way that buildings are built. LEED is focused on the actual building and the methods and materials used to build the building, as well as the site. In 2014, a...
Termites are critical components of tropical systems where they are thought to decompose up to 50% of plant organic material in litter, wood and soil. Termites have adaptations (e.g., the ability to scavenge and store water in their mounds) allowing them to thrive in habitats with variable...
As lack of access to clean drinking water continues to be a problem, especially in rural areas and developing countries, the challenge of finding innovative ways to treat drinking water in secluded areas with few resources must be met. Additionally, the presence of persistent and emerging organic...
The goal of this project was to use linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) as a systemic stress indicator to assess differences in the prevalence of stress within and between the Chalcolithic and Late Bronze Age (LBA) samples from the Smithsonian's Megiddo collection. This was done through macroscopic...
Medicare Part D is an optional prescription drug coverage plan offered through private insurers to Medicare beneficiaries in two forms: 1.) A stand-alone prescription drug plan, and 2.) A set of benefits included in a Medicare Advantage plan. Every Part D plan covers a different list of drugs...
Bluff body wake dynamics are widely studied due to their diversity of rich flow physics when subjected to various inflow conditions and perturbations. Highly pulsatile inflow has proven in our prior studies to generate interesting and unexpected wake dynamics. High-amplitude fluctuations in...
In 2019, about fifty years after the Feminist art movement, women's art work in major museums is still minimal at best. For years groups like the Guerrilla Girls publicly protested and relied on quantitative data to call attention to the disparity that plagues most fine art spaces. Despite an...
This paper explores the ongoing scholarly argument concerning Japanese Colonialism's role in South Korea's development in the 20th century. Kohli (1994) suggests that the Japanese occupation of South Korea laid the ground work for rapid development to occur. In a response to Kohli's scholarship,...
Objective: Pregnancy is a major transition in a woman's life, and yet standard practices in the United States do not often include mental health preventative care support for expectant mothers. The link between expectant mothers' mental health during pregnancy, fetal development, and mother-child...
This paper examines the effectiveness of different types of foreign aid in Sub-Saharan Africa using an unbalanced panel of all Sub-Saharan countries from 2000 to 2017. A regression analysis of entity fixed effect is used to control for omitted variable bias. Various regressions and tests of the...
Mainstream shortcut nitrogen removal offers vast opportunities for energy and treatment cost savings, making these processes sustainable and cost-effective for biological nutrient removal (BNR) systems within modern wastewater treatment plants. DC Water operates a 384 mgd (1400 MLD) advanced...
The purpose of the legalization of medical marijuana in Washington (I-692) was to help patients with terminally ill or debilitating conditions. Medical marijuana's introduction to state policy and economy created a natural experiment that I use to look at its impacts beyond the medical community....
Representation is key for democracy, and it is more so when it incorporates true plurality. This entails that all groups of society get equal representation in decision making, particularly women and youth. According to IPU, of the 45,000 parliamentarians around the world, only 1.9% is under the...