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“The Technology We’ve Been Forced to Use”: Impact of Online Service Delivery for Kinship Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textPurpose: The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly changed the service landscape for both professionals and families. Kinship families, who often navigate multiple systems concurrently with higher service needs, were among the most vulnerable. This study explores kinship caregivers’ and child welfare professionals’ perceptions of changes in service delivery during the pandemic, specifically the sudden shift to virtual platforms.
Materials and Methods: To understand participants’ experiences, focus groups with protocols shaped by initial Delphi Rounds were implemented with 25 kinship caregivers and 34 child welfare professionals from a national sample.
Results: Caregiver and professionals shared themes related to how COVID-19 precautions impacted service delivery; kinship families’ access to, knowledge, and use of technology; and benefits and challenges for implementing virtual support.
Discussion: Based on findings shared by participants, a model illustrating influencing factors for online service delivery was created highlighting technological capital, client factors, provider factors, and service type as key components. Implications of implementing online supports in practice are discussed, including technology access, training in social work education, and future research areas.
Conclusion: Despite the many adversities the COVID-19 pandemic presented for professionals and kinship families, this unprecedented time also paved the way for us think differently about service accessibility and the benefits and challenges of online supports, especially in a world that is quickly moving toward automation. Considering both families’ and professionals’ perspectives is key to integrating virtual supports into the current service delivery landscape in equitable and effective ways
Federal Funding in the Mountain West, 2021-2024
No full textThis fact sheet presents data on the number of federal funding awards granted to the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah between 2021 and 2024. These awards include investments authorized under major federal legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), CHIPS and Science Act, and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), among other programs tracked by Invest.gov. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will see funding for these programs sunsetted (terminated as the above legislation expires)
Free Speech at Colleges and Universities in the Mountain West, 2025
No full textThis fact sheet presents data on free speech at 16 colleges and universities across the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The data are sourced from “The 2026 College Free Speech Rankings,” as originally published by The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), and reflect 2025 data. The FIRE report presents free speech ranks, scores, grades, and data on speech controversies for 257 colleges and universities across 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. This fact sheet highlights the average free speech scores for each Mountain West state, as well as the free speech scores for the 16 Mountain West colleges and universities included in the rankings
A Pill Too Expensive: A Comprehensive Review for Exploring Medical Non-Adherence in the Age of Rising Drug Prices
No full textPrevalence & Health Disparities: Medication non-adherence is a major public health issue. High prescription drug costs are a significant barrier. Affects chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and mental health disorders.
Potential Solutions: Patient assistance programs. Use of generic drugs. Policy reforms to reduce medication costs.
Future Directions & Solutions: Address research gaps in long-term outcomes. Explore broader policy interventions. Improve accessibility and awareness of assistance programs.
Contributing Factors: Leads to worse health outcomes. Increases hospitalizations and long-term healthcare costs. Affects vulnerable populations (i.e., elderly, uninsured, racial minorities)https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/durep_lightning/1045/thumbnail.jp
The Role of Money in Elections
No full textWhat if your vote mattered less than a millionaire’s donation? In every election cycle, billions of dollars flow into campaign war chests but what does that mean? Let’s follow the money and see who is truly influencing our elections. Money plays a powerful role in shaping electoral outcomes and public policy in democratic systems. In the United States, campaign funding has become increasingly dominated by large donations. This is because in 2010, Citizens United v. FEC decision opened the doors for unlimited independent political spending, sparking widespread concerns about fairness, transparency, and the influence of wealthy donors in politics.https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/durep_posters/1254/thumbnail.jp
A Case Series: Effectiveness of Nintendo Ring Fit in Improving Balance and Stability Deficits after Recovery from ACL Reconstruction
No full textTopics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology Volume 6: Issue 1, Article 10, 2025. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a gaming system in improving balance, strength, and power after recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Existing bilateral deficits were also assessed among patients.
Four participants between the ages of 18-24 years were recruited for this case-control study. Participants must have had an ACLR in the last 2 years, been discharged from formal physical therapy, and have a continued history of participating in physical activity at least three times a week. Participants were assigned to either the experimental or control groups using counterbalancing. The two experimental participants were asked to complete six weeks of guided programming on a Nintendo Ring Fit at home. Balance and stability (functional movement screen), strength (handheld dynamometry), and power (triple hop) were assessed and compared pre and post the intervention, in addition to a basic analysis of current activity level and injury details. Minimal improvements in strength were witnessed for the experimental (3.11 ± 2.23% change) whereas the control group declined (-14.11 ± 5.67% change). Improvements for the involved limb were found in ankle closed-chain dorsiflexion range of motion (38.11 + 5.02% change) and triple hop performance (27.62 + 5.18% change) for the experimental group. Participants in the experimental group also made improvements toward the functional pass criterion of the Functional Movement System Motor Control Screen (9.31 + 10.40% change). The involved limb within the experimental group (19.78 + 7.76 % change) improved by +3.74% more than the involved limb in the control group (16.04 + 8.21% change) in the crossover hop test. The Nintendo Ring Fit may be effective in improving balance, stability, and power following ACLR. Further research is needed to assess its effectiveness across all measures
Posthuman Vital Materialism: An Enquiry Concerning Human Nature and Affects Through Dualistic and Monistic Views Regarding the Nature of Reality
No full textThis dissertation project is committed to defining the vital posthuman theory and investigating the evolution of philosophical thought concerning the definition of the terms human, being, state, society, justice, monism, dualism, and others. The theory under focus here operates on six central principles: 1. Radical Relationality (Retrospective Anticipation); 2. Interwoven Meaning and Self (Inversion principle); 3. Distributed Agency and Decentralized Ethics (Decentralization of human); 4. Transitory, Iterative Identities (Language as Feedback system); 5. Deconstruction of Binary Oppositions (Paradox principle); and 6. Extended Epistemologies and Hyperreal Consciousness (non-human cognitive connections). In order to illustrate and unpack the vital posthuman theory, this dissertation analyzes the progress of Continental Rationalism and British Empiricism by extrapolating how informational patterns and material installations operate in confluence. The six principles invoke the difference in contemporary theoretical positions regarding posthumanism. The points of disagreement often cited by posthumanism researchers include configurations that view the theory as historical/transhistorical, a state of being/thinking related/unrelated to technology while emerging from an individual/system. The key hypothesis of this project rests on the idea of de-anthropocentralization. If traditional humanist human essence and consciousness were defined by freedom from other people’s will, the vital posthuman theory does not challenge the freedom but the notion that there was an a priori self-will that is distinct from other-will. This dissertation offers an argument that the vital posthuman transformation is defined by the reconciliation of the monist and dualist doctrines. This dissertation outlines theoretical vital posthuman principles followed by a set of illustrations of the theory’s literary applicability
Discovering the Shared Beliefs, Values, and Perceptions of Nursing Faculty Related to the Integration of Social Determinants of Health in the Nursing Curriculum: A Focused Ethnographic Study
No full textProblem & Significance: Research has demonstrated that individual health outcomes depend highly on social determinants of health (SDOH). Further, COVID-19 highlighted the need for healthcare professionals to be knowledgeable about SDOH. As such, the nursing profession has been called to address SDOH in all practice areas. Nursing faculty are called to prepare nursing students to enter the profession ready to tackle the needs of the patient populations they will encounter. Integrating SDOH in nursing education prepares students to provide holistic, patient-centered care, enhancing patient trust and satisfaction. It also equips them to develop targeted interventions that address SDOH, ultimately improving health outcomes. However, nursing programs have been slow to integrate SDOH into their curricula. Review of Literature: Previous research on curricular change has identified faculty buy-in as the most significant barrier, with resistance stemming from a lack of motivation, understanding, time, knowledge, or confidence in teaching the new content. Studies on SDOH in nursing education have primarily focused on teaching strategies and faculty perceptions but have not examined the role of institutional, academic, and faculty culture in shaping decisions to integrate SDOH concepts. Given the potential influence of these cultural factors, a study exploring how the nursing faculty culture impacts the integration of SDOH is needed to address existing gaps and support more effective curricular change. To date, no studies have examined how these cultures influence faculty decisions toward integrating SDOH. Methodology: This qualitative, focused ethnographic study used Leininger’s Cultural Care Diversity and Universality Theory to investigate the nursing faculty’s values, beliefs, and practices within a school of nursing to understand facilitators and barriers to curricular adoption of SDOH content. Sixteen undergraduate nursing faculty members from a university in the southwestern United States participated in this study. Data collection methods included in-depth interviews, observations in classrooms, clinical learning environments, and curriculum development meetings. Additionally, an in-depth review of pertinent documents was conducted. Data analysis procedures were performed based on Leininger\u27s four phases of data analysis. The interpretation of data was conducted with a focus on the social structure factors, identified by Leininger, that influenced the development of faculty decisions and actions within the school of nursing. Results: The data analysis identified three major themes influencing the integration of SDOH into the curriculum: Experiencing Change, The Value of Time, and Perceiving the Significance of the SDOH. The first theme, Experiencing Change, highlighted how faculty navigated multiple institutional shifts, including curricular revisions and leadership changes, which either facilitated or hindered SDOH integration. The second theme, The Value of Time, emerged as a significant barrier, with faculty expressing insufficient time to incorporate SDOH content effectively. The third theme, Perceiving the Significance of the SDOH, demonstrated that faculty with personal or professional experiences with SDOH were more intentional and confident in integrating SDOH into their teaching. These themes, influenced by cultural and social structure factors, shaped faculty decisions and actions regarding the integration of SDOH within nursing education. The findings from this focused ethnographic study had major implications for nursing education, nursing faculty, and administrators within schools of nursing
The Role of Two Group I WRKY Transcription Factors and Their Interaction Protein in Plant Development and Responses to Environmental Cues
No full textDrought stress remains a major limitation to global crop productivity, necessitating a deeper understanding of plant stress responses for effective bioengineering strategies. WRKY transcription factors play pivotal roles in abiotic stress regulation, yet their specific contributions to drought tolerance remain insufficiently characterized. In this study, we employed a multidisciplinary approach encompassing stem cell research, genetic analysis, genome editing, transcriptomics, hyperspectral photometer imaging, artificial intelligence-backed stomata imaging, and physiological assessments using the LI-COR Photosynthesis System to investigate drought tolerance and development mechanisms. A double knockout of two WRKY genes resulted in early senescence, suggesting their roles in balancing growth and stress responses. Comparative transcriptomic analysis of wildtype and mutant plants under drought conditions revealed significant upregulation of an R3H-domain protein in the WRKY double knockout, indicating a potential downstream regulatory link. Functional characterization of R3H knockouts demonstrated increased drought sensitivity, implicating this protein as a key modulator of stress tolerance. Furthermore, one of the WRKY proteins was found to interact with an NHL (NDR1/HIN1-like) protein, a class of stress-associated proteins implicated in membrane integrity and signaling. Hyperspectral imaging and AI-powered stomatal imaging enabled detailed physiological profiling, providing novel insights into the phenotypic consequences of these genetic modifications. Comprehensive physiological assays, including photosystem II efficiency, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, and LI-COR-based gas exchange measurements, further elucidated the distinct physiological signatures associated with these mutations. This integrative study advances our understanding of the WRKY-R3H-NHL network in drought stress regulation and plant development, and contributes valuable genetic resources for engineering drought-resilient crops to enhance food security in the face of climate change
Effects of Different Cannabis Compounds on Balance, Freezing of Gait, and Bradykinesia in Parkinson’s Disease: Cross-Sectional Analysis of Self-Report Data From the Fox Insight Study
No full textObjective: To explore the effects of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD)) on self-reported balance problems, freezing of gait (FOG), and bradykinesia in Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Background: Recent research has indicated that a high proportion of people with PD are interested in using cannabis for symptom management. Given the known intoxicating and motor impairing properties of THC, it may negatively affect postural instability and increase fall risk in people with PD.
Methods: Data from the Fox Insight online clinical study were analyzed in February 2024. The analysis only included participants with PD who answered questions about cannabis use (n=2754). Responses were analyzed based on type of cannabis (high CBD/low THC, high THC/low CBD, similar CBD and THC, hemp (typically high CBD/low THC)) using three different self-report Likert questions addressing balance problems, FOG, and bradykinesia.
Results: Most respondents reported no change in their balance problems, FOG, and bradykinesia resulting from cannabis use. However, the proportion of respondents reporting worsened symptoms were higher among those using high-THC cannabis compared to those using high-CBD cannabis.
Conclusions: While a plurality of PD respondents reported no change in balance problems when using cannabis, approximately one in four reported worsened balance problems when using high-THC cannabis. This suggests that people with PD should exercise caution when considering high-THC cannabis, as it may exacerbate balance problems and potentially increase fall risk. Similar patterns of symptom worsening with high-THC cannabis were reported for FOG and bradykinesia, though at lower rates than for balance problems. Further research using experimental designs better suited for causal inference is warranted