A Mother’s Domicile in the Indian Child Welfare Act: In re Adoption of B.B.

26 pagesDomicile is an essential part of Indian Child Welfare Act because it often determines which court—tribal or state—will decide the fate of an Indian child in an adoption proceeding. In cases involving newborn babies, for example, the determination of a child’s domicile focuses on the child’s parents, namely the mother. In recent years, some courts have used relaxed domicile standards that are inconsistent with congressional intent in order to give the state jurisdiction and deny tribes the power to adjudicate. This Note uses "In re Adoption of B.B." to examine an Indian mother’s domicile in relation to ICWA. It argues that Congress’s concern about the state-sanctioned removal of Native American children from their homes and tribes must remain part of the consciousness of judges who determine the fate of Native American children

Myths of Missile Defense: International Ambition Driven by Domestic Politics

This dissertation investigates the paradoxical revival of strategic missile defense, a resurgence notable for high economic, diplomatic, and strategic costs and a lack of imminent threats. Despite historically incurring substantial costs, including massive downstream costs, with more projected in the near future, it is fundamentally flawed, both technologically and strategically. It creates significant diplomatic hurdles in arms control, spurs arms races, incentivizes first-strike postures and countermeasures like MIRVing ICBMs, and creates a world where we are less safe with it than we were without it. This study challenges the idea that this resurgence is driven by legitimate national security needs, instead arguing that it is best understood as a form of overexpansion—a self-defeating policy of aggression. Although Jack Snyder's theory of Coalition logrolling provides insights into overexpansion, it falls short in explaining the specific dynamics of missile defense resurgence, particularly concerning the timing, involvement of actors without direct benefits, and the lack of effective democratic oversight. Using historical process tracing and organization theory, this dissertation uncovers that the resurgence is driven by an informal network of actors bound by resource dependencies, including financial connections, information exchanges, and personnel dynamics. These actors strategically leverage resources to ensure survival, mitigate uncertainty, resist autonomy infringements, and access necessary resources. This approach allows a more nuanced understanding of the resurgence's timing, accounting for shifts in resource distribution (financial and political) following exogenous events. The dissertation tracks how network actors strategically shaped their environment to benefit the network, employing tactics that transcended immediate personal gains. It highlights their efforts to manage uncertainties, manipulate organizational environments, and create demand for network-provided resources. The study examines strategies to buffer against environmental fluctuations, including strategic secrecy, information management, and practices for perpetual resource acquisition. Network actions that undermined international agreements for the network's advantage, while resisted by actors with minimal network ties, are also analyzed. The resurgence of strategic missile defense is best understood through an organization theory lens, focusing on resource dependencies and network behaviors. This perspective comprehensively explains the policy's revival, emphasizing an influential network's strategic actions and motivations within the US defense policy sphere

The Implementation of an Online Educational Program for Nurses: Increasing Knowledge about Dysphagia and Dysphagia Dietary Recommendations

Diet modification has become a fundamental clinical tool for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) within dysphagia management, particularly for acutely ill patients. However, for dietary modifications to meet intervention goals of increased intake and prevention of negative health consequences, adherence is needed across healthcare professionals, including nurses. Previous literature has highlighted education as a key contributor to increased adherence. Further, the increased flexibility of online education may help mitigate barriers experienced by healthcare professionals to completing these trainings. The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot an online educational program about dysphagia and diet modification for inpatient nurses caring for patients experiencing dysphagia. The study also aimed to examine the feasibility of program implementation and participants’ overall perceptions of program impact. A total of four participants completed the program and subsequent surveys with three also participating in semi-structured interviews about their experience. Results showed a large effect in knowledge level change between baseline and directly after completing the program and between baseline and one month after completion. Additionally, most of the participants rated the educational program as “good” using the System Usability Scale. Four themes were generated based on the semi-structured interviews. First, participants described the positive benefits of the educational program on their knowledge and clinical practices. The second and third themes encompassed dysphagia-related training received in educational and work settings and what barriers exist to additional training. The fourth theme included insight into the relationships between nurses and SLPs and the positive effects of a strong relationship. Taken together, the quantitative and qualitative analyses supported improvement in participants’ knowledge levels, preliminarily supporting the program’s effectiveness. Results also showed good levels of acceptability and feasibility of the online program as a mode for training. By increasing knowledge about dysphagia management, implementing such a program in nursing training or continuing education may increase adherence to dietary recommendations. In doing so, such a program can lead to earlier identification and appropriate management of dysphagia, resulting in better treatment outcomes, including a reduction in the negative consequence of dysphagia, increased patient satisfaction, and improved quality of life

Multiscale and Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Socioeconomic and Environmental Effects on Mental Illness Mortality

Mental illness is a pressing global and national public health concern, necessitating the identification of risk factors to develop effective prevention measures. In this dissertation, I attempt to fill two research gaps by revealing the spatial and/or temporal disparity in the impacts of unemployment and greenspace on mental illness mortality with spatiotemporal modeling and a causal analysis across three spatial scales.In Chapter 2, the association between mental illness and substance use mortality and unemployment was examined using Bayesian spatiotemporal hierarchical models. The findings revealed heightened positive effects in rural Appalachian and Midwestern counties. Overall mild effects were observed during the Great Recession period. The patterns could be attributed to local contexts such as the availability of healthcare supply and relative deprivation. Chapter 3 challenges the assumption of a spatially constant effect of greenspace exposure on mental illness mortality, using census tract-level data from Oregon and Washington. Results indicated that the impact of greenspace exposure on mental illness mortality varies across census tracts, with protective effects more likely in areas between Seattle and Portland. Protective effects were more likely observed in areas between Seattle and Portland. The contrast between urban and rural areas was explained through factors such as patient preference and differential availability and accessibility to greenspaces. Chapter 4 shed light on the spatial differences in the causal effects of greenspace exposure on mental illness mortality using data from the State of Washington. Dichotomized treatment settings and propensity score matching methods were leveraged to examine the spatial disparity in causal effects of greenspace exposure to mental illness mortality. The results elucidated that the causal effect differed significantly across regions within Washington state, emphasizing that spatial heterogeneity is a critical element when examining the causal effects of greenspace exposure on mental illness mortality. By highlighting the spatial and/or temporal disparity in socioeconomic and physical environment factors’ effects, this dissertation provides new perspectives to spatiotemporal mental health research and suggests a transition from disease mapping to effect mapping. This transition offers evidence to devise locally-focused measures that consider the spatial disparities of associative and causal effects.2024-07-2

Investigating the Influence of Management Practices on the Assembly and Function of Microbial Communities

Microbial communities are integral to many ecosystem functions, including functions of interest to humans such as nutrient cycling and pathogenic infection. However, the influence of management intensity on microbial community assembly and functioning is poorly understood. High intensity management often reduces the overall diversity and biomass of fungi and bacteria; yet ecosystem function does not follow such a clear trend. Additionally, the timeframe in which management impacts microbial community and function is generally unknown. To address these gaps, I characterized microbial communities within logged and unlogged watersheds in the Western Cascade Mountain range and vineyards using different management intensities across a climate gradient in western Oregon, USA. Furthermore, I used wine fermentation as a proxy for microbial community functioning to measure functional differences between management intensities. I found that human management continued to have legacy effects upon microbial communities even five decades after cessation. I also found that management intensity had a clear influence on the organoleptic compounds found within Pinot noir wine samples. This work can deepen our understanding of the response of microbial communities and their functioning to human management.2025-07-2

The Necessity of Nuance in Education: Exploring the Need for the Explicit Teaching of Soft Skills at the High School Level

High school students depend on school to provide the skills needed to attend a post-secondary institution or enter the work force directly upon graduation. However, high school curriculum standards may not align with the skillset demanded of the students post-high school. In prioritizing skills by curriculum standards, schools inevitably privilege certain skills and oppress others, creating hierarchies of importance that are predominantly weighted towards “cognitive/hard” skills as opposed to “non-cognitive/soft” skills. Based on post-high school demand from colleges/universities and professional settings, evidence suggests that the K-12 system, and especially the high school level, may benefit from a shift in the prioritization of hard skills towards soft skills. This descriptive study explored the necessity of the explicit teaching of soft skills at the high school level for the employability and subsequent internal promotability of graduating high school students by analyzing the perceptions of elementary, middle, and high school teachers alongside the perceptions of employers. The perceptions of individual teacher groups at different levels of the K-12 “education chain” allowed for analysis of some of the possible gaps in current prescribed-curriculum skill alignment. The perceptions of employers allowed for an analysis of skill demand post-high school in comparison to the K-12 prescribed-curriculum. In essence, this study provides a clearer picture as to where there might be possible gaps in curriculum for students that affect their employability after graduation

Heterogeneity in Early Mathematics Screening: Investigating the Role of Intervention Effects on Screening Accuracy

This study explores the heterogeneity in screening accuracy of the Assessing Student Proficiency in Early Number Sense (ASPENS) across schools within the context of a randomized control trial (RCT) for Fusion, a first-grade early math intervention. Students were assigned to one of three conditions: a business-as-usual (BAU) control group, a two-student Fusion group (2-Fusion), and a five-student Fusion group (5-Fusion). Two research questions were addressed: 1) To what extent does the observed screening accuracy of ASPENS meaningfully differ between students randomly assigned to the Fusion intervention conditions compared to the BAU condition?; and 2) To what extent is heterogeneity in screening accuracy reduced when is ASPENS is administered concurrently with its criterion, rather than at different times of the year? Data were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models to jointly model sensitivity and specificity at the participant level, using the 20th percentile on the Test of Early Mathematics Ability – 3rd Edition as the reference criterion. As hypothesized, findings indicated that specificity was significantly affected by treatment conditions, with the 2-Fusion condition exhibiting lower specificity than the BAU condition. 5-Fusion also demonstrated lower specificity than BAU, but this difference was not statistically significant. Furthermore, heterogeneity in screening accuracy across treatment groups was no longer evident when assessments were administered concurrently. The findings of this study underscore the challenges of prognostic screening frameworks and have implications for the use of publisher-recommended cut-scores, the development and validation of academic screening measures, and guiding best practices in utilizing screening assessments within multi-tiered systems of support.2024-06-1

Molecular Coordination of Zebrafish Fin Development, Regeneration, and Ray Patterning

Danio rerio zebrafish fins and human limbs, although outwardly dissimilar, develop using conserved genetic modules. However, unlike humans, zebrafish can perfectly regenerate their fins following amputation or injury. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying fin development and regeneration may improve our understanding of human limb abnormalities and aid the rational design of therapeutics for injury repair. In this dissertation, I use the branched zebrafish caudal fin skeleton as a model system to explore the fundamental question of how appendages form a precisely patterned skeleton. Our lab previously discovered Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling is specifically required for fin ray branching during regeneration. In Chapter II, I extend this understanding to demonstrate Shh mediates ray branching during development of all seven zebrafish fins. Further, I find Shh slows the migration of basal epidermal cells as they pass over immature bone in the distal outgrowing fin. This reinforces a potential heterotypic cell association mechanism by which the Shh+ basal epidermis directs branching during ray formation. In Chapter III, I further detail the development of the caudal fin skeleton. I describe how a subset of fin rays, the peripheral principal rays, differs in ontogeny from other fin rays and propose three organizing centers together produce caudal fin symmetry. Chapter IV uses a zebrafish model of Fraser Syndrome to explore how basement membrane-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal associations contribute to ray branching morphogenesis in development and regeneration. In addition to describing the first adult zebrafish model of Fraser Syndrome, I characterize dramatic fin ray patterning abnormalities including but not limited to unbranched rays. I demonstrate the skeletal patterning abnormalities are Shh signaling-independent, showing the basement membrane (and likely additional extracellular structures) establishes a permissive environment for robust skeletal patterning. Turning back to which signals direct ray branching, I identify wnt10a, which is known to be expressed during fin regeneration, as a putative upstream activator of localized basal epidermal shha. In Chapter V, I generate fin-deficient wnt10a mutants and describe the temporal requirements of Wnt10a for median fin development and regeneration. In Chapter VI, I use the wnt10a mutants to demonstrate Wnt10a activates basal epidermal shha expression and thereby initiates the cooperative cell behaviors underlying ray branching morphogenesis. Collectively, this dissertation advances our understanding of the molecular control of zebrafish fin development, regeneration, and skeletal patterning.2024-07-2

Scalar Curvature and Transfer Maps in Spin and Spin^c Bordism

In 1992, Stolz proved that, among simply connected Spin-manifolds of dimension5 or greater, the vanishing of a particular invariant α is necessary and sufficient for the existence of a metric of positive scalar curvature. More precisely, there is a map α: ΩSpin → ko (which may be realized as the index of a Dirac operator) ∗ which Hitchin established vanishes on bordism classes containing a manifold with a metric of positive scalar curvature. Stolz showed kerα is the image of a transfer map ΩSpinBPSp(3) → ΩSpin. In this paper we prove an analogous result for Spinc- ∗−8 ∗ manifolds and a related invariant αc : ΩSpinc → ku. We show that ker αc is the ∗ sum of the image of Stolz’s transfer ΩSpinBPSp(3) → ΩSpinc and an analogous map ∗−8 ∗ ΩSpinc BSU(3) → ΩSpinc . Finally, we expand on some details in Stolz’s original paper ∗−4 ∗ and provide alternate proofs for some parts

Listening to the Arts

My thesis piece "Listening to the Arts" is a twenty-minute long composition for chamber orchestra that consists of four movements. Each movement is inspired by an artwork from a different artist, namely Antonio Canova's "Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss," Alexander Calder's "Double Gong," Alphonse Mucha's "The Seasons," and Claude Monet's "Water Lilies - The Clouds." In this composition, I aim to explore the intersection between music and visual arts by creating an auditory interpretation of each artwork's particular character and style. Each movement adopts a distinct musical style to convey the unique emotional and aesthetic qualities of each artwork. I seek to showcase the potentials of the interdisciplinary arts and how they can inspire and enrich one another. Overall, "Listening to the Arts" is a demonstration of my creativity and proficiency in music composition, and my appreciation for visual arts