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Aging in Uxbridge: A Community Needs Assessment
Get PDFThis report describes research undertaken by the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging (CSDRA) within the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, on behalf of the Town of Uxbridge. The goals of this project were to investigate the interests, preferences, and opinions of Uxbridge’s residents aged 55 or older by engaging the community regarding their experiences and needs relevant to the Council on Aging’s (COA’s) and Senior Center objective to identify and serve the needs of all Uxbridge citizens 55 and older. The contents of this report are meant to inform the Town of Uxbridge, the Uxbridge COA, and organizations that work with and on behalf of older residents of Uxbridge for the purposes of COA mission fulfillment alongside planning and coordination of services for current and future needs of residents. The report will also help to build awareness about issues facing Uxbridge among community members at large
Seven Themes About Substance Use Among Asian Americans
Get PDFThis research brief summarizes the findings from a study on improving services for Asian Americans at risk for substance use problems that was conducted by the Institute for Asian American Studies in collaboration with the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The full report, Exploring Substance Use Among Asian Americans: Seven Themes from Interviews with Service Providers and Community Residents by Drs. Carolyn Wong and Sun S. Kim is available here: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/iaas_pubs/51
Post-Discharge Healthcare Self-Management Support For Stroke Survivors And Family Caregivers: A Comprehensive Assessment
No full textStroke rates have surged globally, severely impacting low-income countries like Ghana, where mortality remains high. Effective self-management is crucial for improving outcomes, yet many stroke survivors and families lack the necessary skills. Healthcare providers are key to bridging this gap, but limited knowledge and the absence of a standardized framework hinder effective support. This dissertation had two primary aims: (1) to clarify the role of healthcare providers in supporting stroke survivors’ self-management after discharge, and (2) to explore the experiences and perceptions of healthcare providers, survivors, and caregivers regarding self-management support (SMS) practices in Ghana. The study was conducted in two phases using Rodgers’ evolutionary concept analysis and Thorne’s Interpretive Description framework. Phase 1, presented in the first manuscript, clarified the attributes, antecedents, and consequences of provider-facilitated SMS. Phase 2, covered in the second and third manuscripts, involved semi-structured interviews with 48 participants from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Hospital, including 15 healthcare providers, 15 stroke survivors, 15 caregivers, and 3 hospital administrators. Individual interviews with providers and administrators are detailed in the second manuscript, while the third manuscript focuses on dyadic interviews with survivor–caregiver pairs. The concept analysis identified three antecedents, eight attributes, and six consequences of provider-facilitated SMS. Qualitative findings revealed five overarching themes, three from providers and administrators, and two from survivor–caregiver dyads. Across both phases, findings consistently showed that SMS was often insufficient, inconsistent, and misaligned with the Chronic Care Model. Survivors and caregivers typically received only basic information, lacking comprehensive, culturally sensitive, and collaborative support. Key SMS components like collaborative goal setting, emotional support, and discussions around sexual health were notably absent. Fragmented care, poor provider coordination, and systemic barriers, including a lack of supportive policies, staff shortages, inadequate SMS training, low literacy, and cultural beliefs, further undermined effective self-management. These findings highlight critical gaps and challenges in Ghana’s SMS practices, negatively affecting survivors’ health outcomes and quality of life. Addressing these deficiencies through policy development, workforce training, and culturally tailored interventions is urgently needed to improve the long-term well-being of stroke survivors and their caregivers
It\u27s Deeper Than Rap. Exploring the Lived Experiences of Black Faculty with Hip-Hop Epistemologies Through Counterstory
Get PDFThis dissertation study explores the experiences of Black professors who carry Hip-Hop epistemologies and utilize Hip-Hop as a method to navigate the social and structural systems within their predominantly white institutions (PWIs). Grounded in Critical Race Theory, the study utilizes narrative inquiry and counterstorytelling. The analysis involved the development of a composite counterstory featuring the fictional protagonist, Hampton Franklin. The findings highlight common experiences among participants. Findings suggest that Black faculty are insiders whose positions grant them access and influence. Second, they are outsiders that navigate hypervisibility, invisibility, and racial battle fatigue. Third, each participant was a “pedagogue of the people,” or faculty that shape their curriculum and content to enhance learning for a diverse body of students. Finally, participants reported a deep sense of duty and responsibility within their faculty roles captured in the theme “deeper than rap.
Schools as Geopolitical Spaces: Violence Against Education During the Bosnian War (1992-1995)
Get PDFAttacks on education have long been a feature of conflict, yet their strategic use by state and non-state actors remains underexamined. Despite global concern and growing documentation efforts by the international community, the motivations and patterns behind school attacks are not well studied. This project investigates the strategic use of such violence by Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian state and non-state armed actors during the Bosnian War (1992-1995) and challenges the assumption that attacks on schools are simply collateral damage. Drawing from political and anti-civilian violence literature, this study situates schools as both symbolic and strategic geopolitical targets, targeted not only for their utility but also for their cultural and symbolic significance by both state and non-state armed actors. Through a mixed-methods approach that integrates descriptive statistical analysis and geospatial data visualization using ArcGIS, this dissertation analyzes a purposive sample of 123 school sites to explore how patterns of violence varied by geography, perpetrator, and technique during this war. Findings reveal clear patterns in the type and intensity of violence, varying by perpetrator group, municipality, and proximity to mass grave sites. These results support the argument that schools served not just as passive sites of destruction, but as active instruments in campaigns of ethnic and political violence. This project addresses a critical gap in academic literature and engages with the legal and normative frameworks of international humanitarian law (IHL) exposing significant gaps in how schools are protected during armed conflict. While hospitals and religious sites benefit from consistent protections under IHL, schools are protected only when civilians are present. This conditionality leaves schools vulnerable to military use and targeted destruction and presents accountability loopholes for those seeking to destroy community and generational acquisitions of human capital
A Parent\u27s Resolve: The Dire Necessity of Driving Care and Advocacy for Chronically Suicidal Youth
No full textThe alarming prevalence of suicidal behavior among youth is a pressing issue, with suicide ranking as the second leading cause of death for individuals aged 10 to 14 in the United States (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2022a). Within the realm of youth mental health, parents bear the primary responsibility for ensuring the safety, care, and welfare of their children. Consequently, when children and adolescents experience chronic suicidality, parents play a crucial role in safeguarding their well-being and preserving their lives. However, there is limited understanding of how parents of chronically suicidal children navigate the complexities of the mental health care system. Hence, the current study is a critical constructivist grounded theory qualitative study that explored the experiences of parents who had previously accessed the mental health care system for their chronically suicidal child. The study consisted of semi-structured interviews with 14 participants. The findings illustrated the process parents of chronically suicidal children undergo in seeking mental health supports. This process included 5 overarching clusters, encompassing: (1) access to mental health treatment, (2) stigma and managing the emotional ramifications of caregiving, (3) treatment needs as identified by parents, (4) feelings of isolation and the benefits of peer support, and (5) advocacy. Research results revealed that parents with a chronically suicidal child encounter various barriers in accessing sufficient care, including systemic, cultural, and resource-related challenges, all of which pose risks to the child\u27s well-being. This situation places significant emotional strain on parents, often leading to personal and professional sacrifices, as well as social stigma and isolation. Participants emphasized the need for accessible, comprehensive support services and widespread mental health education efforts to address these difficulties
Global Commons, Local Crises: The Ecological Embeddedness of Global Production Networks
Get PDFNotions of Global Production Networks (GPNs) are popular approaches to studying the complex, dispersed, and socially embedded production of goods and services. Yet, these concepts have largely struggled with incorporating environmental resources, risks, and actors. My dissertation leverages insights from Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to contextualize ecological elements of production as coequal participants with social stakeholders. I describe how GPNs are ecologically embedded and nested within the natural environment. I draw from ANT to develop a GPN framework that internalizes ecological dimensions. The second chapter in this dissertation develops these ideas and provides theoretical framing for further empirical chapters. The third chapter focuses on the decline of the Atlantic cod fishery in New England by analyzing the economic and cultural impacts of this ecological crisis within the community of Gloucester, Massachusetts. In the fourth chapter, I study efforts toward regenerative organizing inspired by diverse and contested visions of the future
Simulation of Ion Dynamics and Kinetics in Electrochemical Systems: A Continuum Model Approach
No full textThis dissertation employs continuum modeling to investigate ion dynamics and electrochemical kinetics across diverse systems, addressing critical challenges in energy storage and electrokinetic applications. The study integrates experimental and computational approaches to explore multivalent ion additives in silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries, revealing that Mg2+ co-alloying stabilizes silicon under Li-rich conditions. A modified Pseudo-Two-Dimensional (P2D) model illustrates the interplay between Li and Mg kinetics. Further, ion transport in nanopores under alternating current fields is visually shown by ion dynamics, highlighting frequency-dependent transitions between electromigration-dominated non-equilibrium states and diffusion-controlled quasi-equilibrium regimes. Conical nanopores exhibit overlapping surface-charge effects at 20 nm scales, while larger pores favor bulk-like ion dynamics. Another model investigates multi-redox reaction kinetics by Finite element simulations of rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE) and Cyclic voltammetry (CV) systems, showing that convection speed, exchange current density, etc., parameters critically influence current response. Finally, the modified P2D model optimizes high-voltage cathode designs, correlating porosity gradients and solid-state diffusion coefficients with cathode electrolyte interphase formation reactions. By bridging nanoscale phenomena, such as electric double layer overlaps, to device-scale performance, this work advances strategies for high-energy-density batteries, electrokinetic sensors, and ion-selective membranes. The findings emphasize the role of continuum models in complex ion dynamics and accelerating material design for sustainable energy technologies
The Role of Wnt5 in Drosophila Lymph Gland Hematopoiesis
No full textPrecise regulation of hematopoietic (blood) stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) is essential for sustaining healthy lifelong blood production in metazoans. The Drosophila larval lymph gland is a well-established model for dissecting the mechanisms that govern HSPC maintenance, proliferation, and differentiation. Normal Wnt signaling supports homeostatic blood cell development by balancing HSPC self-renewal with differentiation, whereas aberrant Wnt signaling contributes to diseases such as leukemias. In the lymph gland, several Wnt ligands are expressed in HSPCs, including Wnt6 and Wnt5. Wnt6 prevents HSPC differentiation by promoting HSPC cell growth and pausing HSPCs in the G2 phase of the cell cycle through a β-catenin-independent pathway. In contrast, β-Catenin-dependent (canonical) signaling allows late HSPCs to escape the G2 pause and progress into G1 where HSPCs commit to differentiation. Thus, both canonical and non-canonical branches operate in HSPCs to balance HSPC maintenance and differentiation. In contrast to Wnt6, the role of Wnt5 in lymph gland hematopoiesis remains unclear, including whether Wnt5 acts redundantly with or distinctly from Wnt6. Here we investigated how modulating Wnt5 expression affects HSPC differentiation, cell size, and cell-cycle status, and we examined which downstream pathways mediate Wnt5 signaling.
We combined genetics, flow cytometry, quantitative reverse transcription PCR, and immunofluorescence analysis to investigate the effect of Wnt5 loss- and gain- of function. Wnt5 expression was manipulated using the GAL4/UAS system, which was either used to drive RNA interference (RNAi) to knockdown Wnt5 or drive Wnt5 overexpression. Progenitor and differentiated cells were quantified using the fluorescence of established reporters for HSPCs (domeMESO-EGFP) and differentiated cells (HmlD-DsRed). Knockdown of Wnt5 increased the proportion of differentiated blood cells and reduced HSPCs compared with the wild-type control. Conversely, Wnt5 overexpression had no effect on differentiation. Cell size analysis using forward-scatter measurements showed no change in HSPC cell size upon Wnt5 knockdown compared to wild-type, unlike Wnt6 knockdown, which significantly decreases cell size. Wnt5 overexpression, in contrast, aberrantly increased cell size compared to wild-type. Analysis of the DNA content of HSPCs using Hoechst fluorescence revealed that unlike Wnt6, Wnt5 depletion or overexpression has no effect on HSPC cell cycle. Given that Wnt5 seems to mediate a distinct mechanism of HSPC maintenance from Wnt6, we took a candidate approach to investigate which pathways act downstream of Wnt5. For this we examined 3 pathways that have been shown in other systems to act downstream of Wnt5, specifically: inhibition of canonical Wnt signaling (monitored by nkd and stg/Cdc25 transcription), activation of JNK signaling (assessed by MMP1 expression), and Wnt/Ca²⁺ signaling (tracked with a GCaMP6f reporter).
qPCR revealed that stg/Cdc25 transcript levels were significantly increased in both UAS-Wnt5 overexpression and Wnt5RNAi (KK) lymph glands, whereas nkd transcripts remained unchanged. No significant differences were detected in the JNK-responsive gene MMP1. Moreover, MMP1 immunostaining also showed no significant protein level difference. Preliminary data shows that the mean GCaMP6f fluorescence, a proxy for intracellular Ca²⁺ signaling, was significantly higher in UAS-Wnt5 overexpression and Wnt5RNAi (KK) compared to the controls, indicating that Wnt5 perturbation affects Ca²⁺ signaling. While Wnt5RNAi (BL) showed no significant difference in GCaMP6f fluorescence, it showed the same trend of increased GCaMP6f seen in UAS-Wnt5 and Wnt5RNAi (KK), which supports these findings. Together, these results suggest that Wnt5 restrains HSPC differentiation in a mechanism distinct from Wnt6. Our initial findings suggest that Ca²⁺-dependent non-canonical Wnt signaling mechanism and canonical Wnt modulation may act downstream of Wnt5
Implementation of a Novice Charge Nurse Blended Learning Program in a Community Hospital
Get PDFAbstract
Background: Charge nurses have a broad range of responsibilities that require skills beyond patient care. Unfortunately, these skills are not usually taught in nursing school or as part of continuing education for staff nurses. As a result, many new charge nurses feel unprepared for their role. This is compounded by the fact that a significant percentage of nurses in the workforce are novice nurses. These novice nurses who may not yet have the necessary experience are now leading staff without the guidance and support of experienced nurses.
Local Problem: Newly appointed charge nurses at the academically affiliated community hospital where the project took place lack formal training. The hospital employs twelve permanent charge nurses, with an average of three years of experience in the charge nurse role.
Methods: A systematic literature review revealed that a competency-based blended learning program can improve charge nurse confidence and capability. The overall aim of the intervention was to develop, implement, and evaluate a blended learning program (BLP) that not only enhances the perception of readiness to undertake the responsibilities of the charge nurse role but also equips the participants with the necessary skills and knowledge to excel in the role.
Interventions: The BLP was comprised of three primary components. First, the cohort attended bi-weekly in-person sessions, which covered various topics related to the charge nurse competencies; quality improvement, organizational resource management, conflict resolution, creative problem solving, team management, trauma-informed care, stress management, and leadership. Second, participants received a self-paced workbook, and third, participants received unit-based mentorship. The evaluation strategy was based on the self-reported confidence and competency level of the charge nurse participant and an objective assessment by the mentor of the participant’s competency acquisition.
Results: At the completion of the BLP the charge nurses and their mentors reported that the chare nurses had acquired skills to succeed in the role. This project demonstrated that a competency-based blended learning program improved the charge nurse’s confidence, behavior, and competency level to undertake the responsibilities of the charge nurse role.
Conclusions: By providing tailored training that aligns with an organizational care model and support from the nursing leadership team, charge nurses who participated in the BLP felt better able to function in the role. The majority of charge nurses perceived their confidence and competence improved, attained a support system, and assimilated into the nursing leadership knowledge community. Mentors reported that the BLP was feasible and added value to practice