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Controlling Connectivity: The Impact of Expanding Road Networks on Criminal Violence
No full textThis dissertation analyzes the impact of new connectivity on violence. It specifically shows the relationship between road investments and organized criminal activity. I argue that the construction of new infrastructural projects creates new economic opportunities, especially in small and medium municipalities. The improvement in the local economy creates a new set of opportunities that attracts the attention of organized criminal groups (OCG). These groups transplant to these new territories in hopes of retaining new payoffs. As a result, these regions often experience significant increases in their OCG competition, leading to spikes in local homicide rates. Analyzing the case of Brazil, this study shows that the construction of new roads increases approximately four additional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in a given year. I dissect this finding by performing 11 months of fieldwork in Ceará to identify how criminal organizations disperse their presence into previously unoccupied territory. I show how criminal organizations have evolved in the state due to significant changes in the local economy, leading Ceará to become one of the most violent states in Brazil.Political Scienc
Open Road to Success: Developing a Faculty OER Training Curriculum
No full textFaculty awareness and use of open educational resources (OER) in 2023-24 saw a measured decline for the first time in almost 10 years, according to Bay View Analytics. Academic libraries have spearheaded a variety of open and affordable initiatives over the years to address not only textbook affordability but also faculty understanding of OER, including establishing faculty OER grant initiatives.
This poster will highlight faculty OER grant initiatives undertaken by one large, urban university library, focusing on the development of a series of self-paced online training modules delivered via Canvas and aimed at building faculty competencies around open education, open licensing, and open pedagogy. Considerations for creating learning objectives and module content will be highlighted, in addition to strategies for advancing a community of practice among faculty OER grant recipients. Tips for designing learning objects and assessments will be provided, and qualitative and quantitative data from the past three training cohorts will be included in the poster. Finally, change opportunities for future faculty trainings will be considered, and an open curriculum will be offered.Temple University. LibrariesTemple University (Health Sciences Center Campus). LibraryPoster presented at the 2025 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference & Exhibition, which took place June 26-30, in Philadelphia, PA
SLEEP AND CIRCADIAN RHYTHM DISRUPTION AS PREDICTORS OF SUICIDAL IDEATION: A MULTI-METHOD INVESTIGATION
No full textPrevalence rates of suicidal ideation (SI) have increased over the past several decades, signifying a need for further research into novel risk factors to improve the prediction and prevention of SI. There is increased interest in the study of indicators of risk that do not rely on an individual disclosing their internal experience. One such potential risk factor is sleep and circadian rhythm disturbance, which is common among psychiatric populations. There is a paucity of research evaluating longitudinal associations between a comprehensive array of sleep and circadian indices and SI. This study assessed concurrent and prospective associations between a comprehensive set of sleep and circadian measures and SI among adolescents, due to the heightened risk for SI during this important developmental period. A sample of 301 community-based adolescents (M age = 15.53, SD=1.02; 59.80% female; 56.81% White) at-risk for mood disorders completed self-report measures of sleep disturbance, depressive symptoms, negative life events, and suicidal ideation. Participants also wore an actiwatch for one week to objectively measure indices of sleep health. A subset (n=123) of the sample reported circadian preference and provided saliva samples to measure dim-light melatonin onset, an indicator of circadian phase. Suicidal ideation was assessed again at a six-month follow-up.
Sleep efficiency, wake after sleep onset, self-reported sleep quality, and quantity of negative sleep health characteristics were associated with concurrent SI, but the majority of the associations were reduced to nonsignificance once depressive symptoms and negative life events were covaried. Circadian rhythm disruption did not emerge as a correlate or risk factor for SI. Although sleep disruption appears to be a correlate of SI, the current evidence does not support a causal role for sleep or circadian rhythms in the course of SI, except for wake after sleep onset. More research with clinical populations assessing SI at a shorter timeframe is indicated.Psycholog
Investigating pain catastrophizing and resilience on pre and post-operative endodontic treatment
No full textThe primary objective of this study was to investigate the association between pain catastrophizing, pain resilience, and treatment expectations with oral health-related quality of life (QoL) and pain outcomes (i.e., pain intensity, pain interference) in patients receiving endodontic therapy. A secondary aim was to determine whether changes in pre-/post-operative pain catastrophizing and resilience predict changes in treatment-related outcomes (i.e., oral health-related QoL, pain intensity, pain interference).
Materials and Method: This single arm quasi-experimental study included 63 adults (18+ years) diagnosed with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis who were receiving non-surgical root canal treatment. Participants completed psychological questionnaires including the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Pain Resilience Scale, a measure of treatment expectancy, the PROMIS Pain Intensity and Interference scales, and the Oral Health Impact Profile. Questionnaires were administered pre-operatively and post-operatively two weeks after their root canal was completed. A multivariable linear regression model with demographic characteristics as potential confounders was used for statistical analysis.
Results: There were no significant associations between sociodemographic factors and outcome variables and no significant pre- to post-operative changes in either the psychological variables or the study outcomes. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that pre-operative pain catastrophizing significantly predicted post-operative pain intensity, pain interference, and oral health QoL (all p’s >0.001). In contrast, pain resilience and treatment expectancy were not significant predictors. Additionally, changes in pain catastrophizing and pain resilience from pre- to post-operative assessment were not significantly associated with corresponding changes in pain intensity, pain interference, and oral health QoL.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that pain catastrophizing may serve as an important psychological factor to consider in the management of endodontic pain. Therefore, future research should explore targeted interventions to address pain catastrophizing in order to improve treatment-related outcomes and enhance patient experiences during endodontic therapy.Oral Biolog
Programmatic Shifts in Need-Based and Merit-Based College Financial Aid Policy
No full textThis study concerns financial aid awarding practices at Mid-Atlantic University, a large, urban, four-year, publicly supported, research institution. The purpose of this study was to consider how equitable the distribution of institutional need-blind and need-based gift aid was, viewing allocation of institutional gift aid as representative of institutional priorities on the overarching issues of access and equity in higher education. Four research questions are considered, with regressions performed aimed at identifying the factors of institutional financial aid policy on low and middle-income undergraduate students. The first two questions focus on relationships between institutional grant aid and student need, among the total sample cohort and among just the subset of need-blind merit scholarship recipients within the larger sample. The third and fourth questions focus on the student success outcomes: time to graduation, GPA, and accrued student loan indebtedness. Mid-Atlantic University fairly allocated institutional need-based grants to help equalize income inequality among its financial aid applicants to some extent, as decreased time to graduate (with a stronger impact even than the receipt of merit scholarships) and very slight increases in cumulative GPA found for recipients. However, funding allocation to transfer students was an area of inequity in awarding practices. Transfer students received less funding in both need-blind merit scholarships and institutional need-based grants and accrued greater student loan debt. Additionally, allocation of need-blind merit scholarships favored lower need students and/or those that did not file a FAFSA. Lastly, student loan debt was found to have a negative relationship with both time to graduation and GPA, and students with higher need were found to take on more student loan debt.Educational Leadershi
WE PLAY TOGETHER; WE STAY TOGETHER: EDUTAINMENT’S INFLUENCE ON STUDENTS OF COLOR FROM LOW-SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS COMMUNITIES
No full textThis dissertation aimed to discover methods through which teachers can apply edutainment to support the academic progress of low-socioeconomic status (SES) students of color in a Philadelphia charter school. The research study focused on a teacher population of 20 members who teach students from Grades 5 to 8. The researcher used qualitative methods to study the educational workshop’s edutainment-based effects on teachers’ perceptions of learning and student engagement. The research examined how edutainment functions as an educational tool to boost academic results and motivate teachers to adopt this method in their teaching materials.
The researcher distributed surveys to teachers to measure their perceived effectiveness of edutainment as it related to student achievement after the intervention program. Interviews were conducted to gather detailed information about teacher perceptions and teaching experiences when using edutainment as an educational approach. The discussions revealed complex aspects of how edutainment affects educational experiences for low-SES students of color along with their observed advantages and drawbacks.
This study provides knowledge to the educational instructional field through its examination of edutainment’s ability to close educational disparities in underserved communities. The research aimed to develop knowledge about edutainment’s potential to enhance learning results for low-SES students of color to guide future educational approaches and interventions that enhance student engagement and accessibility in education.Educational Leadershi
EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF STATE LAWS THAT REGULATE ACCESS TO FIREARMS FOR PERPETRATORS OF INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE IN THE UNITED STATES
No full textIntimate partner violence (IPV) is a preventable public health issue that affects more than 12 million people in the United States (US) each year. IPV includes acts of physical violence, sexual violence, stalking, and psychological abuse or aggression by current or former intimate partners in heterosexual or same-sex relationships and does not require sexual intimacy. All genders experience IPV; however, the immense burden of victimization is borne by women. Although IPV affects women across all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, historically marginalized groups face the highest risks.
Women are disproportionately impacted in terms of prevalence, economic cost, and negative health outcomes, including chronic reproductive issues, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, health-risk behaviors, serious physical injuries, and death. Intimate partner homicide (IPH), the most severe consequence of IPV, often involves firearms, which are used in over 60% of all IPH incidents. Women represent the majority of IPH victims, with more than 50% of all female homicides committed by current or former partners, over half of which involve firearms. Mere access to a firearm in an IPV relationship can substantially increase the risk of severe physical injury and death.
Firearm-related morbidity and mortality are not occurring randomly across the US. Instead, this violence is concentrated where firearm ownership is most prevalent and firearm laws are least restrictive, indicating the potential for law to serve as a layer of protection for IPV survivors. Laws that restrict IPV perpetrators from purchasing and possessing firearms constitute a critical policy tool intended to prevent harm and save lives. The overall effectiveness of these legal interventions in research and practice is understudied. To address this gap, this dissertation examined two civil legal interventions that limit firearm access for perpetrators who are subject to domestic violence restraining orders (DVROs) and temporary restraining orders (TROs), collectively referred to as “firearm prohibitor” laws.
Guided by one central research question and using a mixed-methods approach grounded in a legal epidemiology framework, this study explored state firearm prohibitor laws and assessed their impact and reach to inform prevention and harm reduction efforts. A groundwork study—involving the creation of a longitudinal dataset of federal and state firearm prohibitor laws across all 50 states and the District of Columbia from January 1, 1991, to January 1, 2016—informed the overall design of the following three research aims:
Aim 1: Examine the breadth and depth of firearm prohibitor laws across the United States over time by developing a comprehensive, longitudinal dataset of statutes and regulations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia from January 1, 2014, to January 1, 2020, using policy surveillance.
Aim 2: Evaluate the impact of firearm prohibitor laws on firearm-related intimate partner homicides across 48 states and the District of Columbia from 2015 to 2020.
Aim 3: Identify and explore the perceptions of individuals working in the field of IPV regarding firearm prohibitor laws and their implementation in practice, using qualitative focus group methodology.
This work offered an unprecedented, nationwide understanding of the evolving landscape of legal protections for IPV survivors and firearm restrictions for perpetrators across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, spanning nearly three decades (1991–2020). It untangled complex legal variation and provided a robust, longitudinal dataset that will serve as a foundational resource for future research, policy, and practice. Between 1991 and 2020, 42 states enacted firearm prohibitions through DVROs (42 states) and TROs (20 states), or both (20 states). However, across the 42 states, the scope and strength of protection varied. States were categorized into six levels—comprehensive, strong, moderate, limited, minimal, and none—based on existing evidence related to specific combinations of legal features, allowing for meaningful comparisons and analyses. An evaluation from 2015 to 2020 found that comprehensive DVRO firearm prohibitor laws—which included provisions for firearm relinquishment and removal—and TRO firearm prohibitor laws were associated with a statistically significant reduction in the risk of firearm-related IPH, highlighting the life-saving potential of disarming perpetrators through nuanced legal frameworks. Beyond simply measuring and evaluating the laws, this research also investigated how these laws functioned in practice, revealing key structural and systemic barriers to implementation and enforcement, and offering actionable solutions to strengthen legal protections across states with varying levels of protection. The findings suggested that while firearm prohibitor laws had the potential to save lives, that potential could only be realized if their implementation and enforcement practices were clearly understood, adequately resourced, and consistently prioritized.
Together, these studies underscore the fragmented legal landscape governing firearms and IPV in the US, resulting in unequal protections for survivors—determined not by need, but by where they happen to live. Collectively, this research provides survivors, advocates, policymakers, public health practitioners, and researchers with critical insights into how these laws function—and how they can be strengthened—to enhance survivor safety and reduce firearm-related harm nationwide.Public Healt
The Effect of Reporting Unit Goodwill Disaggregation on Impairment Assessments: Evidence from Critical Audit Matters
No full textGoodwill is an intangible asset generated when the consideration paid in a business combination exceeds the fair value of the identifiable net assets received by the acquirer. Under U.S. GAAP goodwill impairment assessments are required to be conducted on reporting units at least annually. Management has discretion to disaggregate goodwill by defining more reporting units and by defining reporting units at less consolidated levels (i.e. the firm, segment, or sub-segment). Using recorded impairments, goodwill-related critical audit matters (CAMs), and hand-collected data on the number and level of reporting units, I find that the degree of goodwill disaggregation is associated with a higher likelihood of impairment and higher magnitude impairments. Using future operating cash flows, I find a positive non-linear relationship between the degree of goodwill disaggregation and the predictive value of impairments, with sub-segment-level disaggregation not providing more predictive power than segment-level disaggregation. Using the text of CAMs, I find that auditors emphasize the subjectivity of goodwill that is not disaggregated and the robustness of their related audit procedures, suggesting an association between the degree of disaggregation and the auditor’s perceived business risk. Taken together, my findings suggest that changing the unit of assessment from reporting units to segments may reduce the likelihood and magnitude of impairments, but not their informativeness. These findings may be of interest to the FASB, which recently considered changes to the unit of assessment for goodwill impairment.Business Administration/Accountin
POLARIZATION-RESOLVED OPTICAL MICROSCOPY FOR NANOPARTICLE IMAGING
No full textNoble metal nanoparticles have emerged in applications such as biosensing, photothermal therapy, and catalysis due to their unique optical properties and large surface area-to-volume ratio. Their unique optical properties arise due to their ability to support a plasmon, which is the collective oscillation of the surface conduction electrons, and is dependent on the metal type, particle morphology, and the refractive index of their surrounding environment. Due to the plasmon’s dependence on particle morphology, certain shapes outperform others in different applications, giving rise to specific structure-function relationships. Structural characterization techniques such as electron microscopy are often employed to determine particle morphology but suffer from low throughput, high cost, and are destructive in nature, making in situ measurements of particles during dynamic processes challenging. Optical microscopy offers a non-destructive alternative for nanoparticle characterization that is capable of in situ measurements but suffers from a fundamental resolution limit called the diffraction limit of light, which prevents structures smaller than roughly half the wavelength of light used to illuminate them from being resolved. In this dissertation, we demonstrate that multiple variants of polarization-resolved optical microscopy enrich the information gained from diffraction-limited images and provide insights into nanoparticle structure and properties that would be hidden in traditional optical imaging.In Chapters 1 and 2, we discuss the basic principles of polarization-resolved imaging and introduce two variants: calcite-assisted localization and kinetics (CLocK) microscopy and defocused imaging. In Chapter 3, we use CLocK imaging of gold nanotriangles and develop a shape assignment workflow to quickly classify nanoparticle shapes using the wavelength and degree of anisotropy of their scattered light. We demonstrate how different imaging modes are suited for specific challenges, from rapid sorting to more refined shape assignments, and correctly assign gold nanotriangles with 98% accuracy. In the next chapter, we use CLocK microscopy to monitor copper nanoparticle oxidation in situ based on changes in the wavelength and degree of anisotropy of their scattered light caused by oxidation-induced morphological changes. We found that not only does the imaging medium cause heterogeneity in oxidation kinetics, but particles on the same sample under the same imaging conditions can still experience differences in their oxidation rates. Finally in the third chapter we used a technique called defocused imaging to report on the polarization of the luminescence for a plasmonic nanoparticle and its effect on the observed emission polarization of surface-bound fluorescent dipoles. We observed that the luminescence emitted from a plasmonic nanoparticle does not retain the same polarization as the input excitation as previously predicted by theory but instead depolarizes the light in three dimensions, The nanoparticle’s depolarized electric field then depolarizes the light emitted by fluorescent molecules bound to its surface, causing the emission to no longer be representative of a single dipoleChemistr
Current Trends in Single-visit vs. Multiple-visit Root Canal Treatment: A Survey of Endodontists in the United States
No full textSingle-visit root canal treatment is proposed to optimize efficiency, enhance patient receptivity, and to prevent interappointment contamination. On the other hand, concerns about single-visit treatment exist regarding post-treatment complications and insufficient disinfection. The concerns are heightened in particular with necrotic or infected cases. Over the last few decades, the reported practice of performing root canal treatment in a single-visit has increased over time. A previous survey of 304 endodontists in 1982 by Calhoun and Landers found that 16.8% would treat necrotic cases in a single visit. Later, in 2002, a survey of 156 endodontists by Inamoto et al. found 34.8% would do so. Since 2002, large-scale outcome review studies have been published concerning single vs. multiple-visit root canal treatment. Additionally, the advent of new technologies, such as GentleWave® and laser, which are adjunct irrigation techniques that aim to improve disinfection, may have changed endodontists’ practice preference concerning the amount of root canal treatment visits.
Purpose:
This present study aims to evaluate recent trends in practice preference and perception of endodontists in the USA in regards to single-visit vs. multiple-visit root canal treatment. Furthermore, the study seeks to determine statistically significant correlations between demographic variables and survey answers.
Materials and Methods:
A 30-question survey was emailed to 3,525 endodontists and was available from April to June 2024. The endodontists’ email information was sourced via previous and current data of members of the American Association of Endodontists. The survey included questions about respondents’ demographics, practice perception, and self-reported practice preferences. After data collection, the data was organized and cleaned. Statistical analysis was then performed. Survey responses were summarized using the frequency tables overall as well as stratified by demographic characteristics. Bivariate associations between survey responses and demographic characteristics were assessed by chi-squared tests. Statistical significance was determined if two-sided p-values <0.05.
Conclusion:
Of the 462 respondents, 74.9% reported treating necrotic cases in a single visit, while 92.4% reported single-visit for irreversible pulpitis. Younger endodontists (p<0.001) and those practicing in the Western and Midwestern regions (p=0.022) were more likely to do single-visit. 71.9% reported no perceived difference in post-op complications between single-and multiple-visit treatment, and 81.2% reported no perceived difference in success rate. In addition, 61% of GentleWave® and 41% of laser users answered that they increased their proportion of single-visit treatment after adopting it. The top three factors influencing treatment decisions were: fully dry canals, adequately instrumented canals, and available time. This study highlights a growing trend toward single-visit treatment and identifies the criteria that endodontists use for their decision-making.Oral Biolog