Digital Commons Network^™

Analysis Of The Effects Of Phytocannabinoids Cannabichromene (Cbc), Cannabidiol (Cbd), And Cannabigerol (Cbg) On The Enzyme Faah, Rachel Duncan

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Histological Quality Of Fresh And Pre-Fixed Tissue, Rebekah Satalino, Andrew Hodges, Bright Danso, Gretchka Mair, Kingsley Ampong

Liberty University Research Week

The quality of a tissue sample used for histological analysis robustly influences the accuracy of scientific results and diagnostic interpretation. For fresh tissue samples, the duration between termination and fixation is a major determinant for tissue quality going forward as fixation halts tissue degradation. The condition of the fixed tissue before subsequent processing can have a pronounced effect on staining characteristics and cellular component integrity as examined under the microscope. However, while fresh tissue is frequently considered best, many institutions may only have access to pre-fixed tissue for training or research purposes. The aim of this research is to compare …

Inclusion May Affect Marching Band Members Of Black Universities Differently Than Members Of White Universities: Narrative Inquiry, Derrick Yates

Liberty University Research Week

There is a lack of research on the emotional connection and support students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities may seek through their band experience versus students of Predominantly White Institutions. Some studies demonstrate that those who participate in music ensembles express heightened self-esteem, a sense of connectedness, and a positive impact on their mental and psychological well-being. This narrative inquiry research study focuses on the unexplored perspectives of three band members from historically black and three predominantly white university marching bands, regarding their emotional connections to their programs and the emotional connections and support they receive from them. The …

Beyond The Homefront: The Transformation Of Women’S Military And Support Roles, 1941–1953, Madison Kelly

Liberty University Research Week

This paper examines the evolving roles of women in American military conflicts from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam War, highlighting both their contributions and the societal constraints they faced. It emphasizes the transformative impact of World War II, when women entered industrial jobs, military service branches, and nursing roles in unprecedented numbers, symbolized by figures like “Rosie the Riveter” and organizations such as the WAC, WAVES, WASP, and Army Nurse Corps. The study also explores the regression of women’s roles during the Korean War and the gradual reemergence of impactful contributions during the Vietnam War, including nursing, Red Cross …

Examining Carroll’S Alice In Wonderland And Through The Looking Glass, And What Alice Found There: A Christian Calling To Spiritual Childhood, Kristen Hess

Liberty University Research Week

"Examining Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There: A Christian Calling to Spiritual Childhood" dives into the positive and negative childlike habits that Alice, a representative of children and childhood, embodies and how Christians should identify and emulate her positive childlike behaviors in order to best fulfill their roles as spiritual children of God. Because Christians are children of God according to Romans 8:16, it is vital for Christians, like children, to understand the world around them, learn about themselves and others, and enjoy physical and mental play and recreation. Lewis Carroll found …

Euripides’ Medea As An Existential Protagonist: Comparing Conceptualizations Of Fate In The 400s Bc And The 1800s Ad, Johanna Bryant

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

The Mentality Of Women: The Accuracy Of Mental Illness Treatment In Dreaming In Cuban, Jadyn Brueske

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Transnational Beings: Corner Store Entrepreneurship Of Mena Immigrants Of The Third Wave, Gabriel Al-Shaer

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

A Created Longing: A Textual Analysis Of Sehnsucht, Hope Dornfeld

Liberty University Research Week

The German concept of Sehnsucht is expressed explicitly in several musical selections from the Romantic era; however, the emotional state it represents is implicit in a much greater field of music, poetry, and prose, crossing a wide variety of styles, genres, and periods of history. The concept first gained popularity through the writings of Goethe and Schiller, and was employed in poetic, musical form through the works of the German Romantic composers. Significant research exists on the philosophical and theoretical implications of Sehnsucht . However, a qualitative textual analysis of specific song texts has not been explored in a great …

Mother-Daughter Ties Across Borders: Identity And Connection In Dreaming In Cuban, Alvaro Ricardo Larrea Salazar

Liberty University Research Week

This project examines how trauma, memory, and political displacement shape generational identity in Cristina García's Dreaming in Cuban. I argue that García presents memory as both a bridge and a barrier within the matrilineal line of Celia, Lourdes, and Pilar, ultimately suggesting that reconciliation across political and cultural divides is possible only through acknowledgment rather than suppression of inherited trauma. While Celia’s devotion to the Cuban Revolution and her nostalgic attachment to lost love root her identity firmly in the past, Lourdes responds to revolutionary violence and exile by rejecting her heritage and embracing American capitalism as a form of …

The Lakota Sioux And The U.S.: What Went Wrong?, Blake Rackley

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Theater Of The Fright, Carolyn Wilkerson

Liberty University Research Week

In the genre of horror, there is an unrelenting desire to continuously push the boundaries of the acceptable and find what the next “biggest scare” might be. While this oftentimes works well for those making money from creations such as the latest films and novels, the struggle remains to forever up the ante and outdo the previous iterations. That, therefore, leaves the question of what exactly could continue to drive forward the horror genre if, as taken in a looser meaning from Ecclesiastes 1:9, there is nothing new under the sun. This presentation will showcase the behind-the-scenes of how horror …

Purposes For Sacred Song In Eighteenth-Century British Colonial America, Merrily Kelsey

Liberty University Research Week

In eighteenth-century colonial America, the colonists sang sacred songs for several reasons which they identified in song text, song book introductions, journals, sermons, and several other places.

Real World Fertility: From Participatory Research To Clinical Trial, Belinda Tan, Azure Grant, Ayla Barmmer

Oxford ICSB

Nutritional supplements are widely popular for female reproductive health, but their ingredients are typically studied in isolation in the laboratory. Finished products make claims based on these isolated studies, creating a gap in which impact of multi-nutrient formulas in the real world are not investigated, largely due to high research costs. Decentralized clinical research methods are modernizing clinical trials, leading to affordable, efficient evidence generation in large representative populations. Utilizing a decentralized research platform, we tested the hypothesis that specific supplement protocols would be associated with improved female health and fertility in a real world cohort. We present a novel …

The Influence Of Pre-War Cruiser Design And Doctrine On The Guadalcanal Campaign Of World War Ii, Dawson Baber

Liberty University Research Week

The development of cruisers and their accompanying doctrine played a critical role in the hotly contested night engagements during the Guadalcanal Campaign of the Second World War. Upon entering the war, the US Navy’s doctrine focused on long range, open seas, decisive battles centered on a battleship battleline with cruisers serving as scouts or fleet screens/escorts. However, this research will focus on the Guadalcanal campaign, which saw close range, nighttime, defensive battles fought by vessels not designed for the task and men untrained for that type of combat. While the historiography surrounding the Guadalcanal campaign is vast, there are practically …

Recovering Children's Choirs: Bonhoeffer's Musical Pneumatology And The Formation Of Polyphonic Fellowship, Dee Tackitt

Liberty University Research Week

This textual-investigative study explores how Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s musical pneumatology and his theology of polyphony provide a framework for recovering children’s choirs as practices of Spirit-formed communal discipleship. In Bonhoeffer’s writings—especially Life Together, Ethics, and Letters and Papers from Prison—polyphony becomes a theological metaphor in which “distinct voices sound together” under a unifying center without collapsing differences. Recent scholarship, particularly by Joanna Tarassenko, identifies this polyphonic imagery as a form of implicit pneumatology: the Holy Spirit harmonizes plurality into a fellowship where unity does not require uniformity, and difference does not result in division. This project applies that framework to the …

A Pass From The Field To The Couch: The Story Of How Television Spurred The Embedding Of Professional Football In American Popular Culture, Micah Velarde

Liberty University Research Week

Professional American football, in the past sixty years, has become a staple of American popular culture and greatly impacts the lives of Americans. Much of this growth is due to the impact of television on Americans. This research aims to explore the avenues American football began to change American popular culture. Primary research has been conducted, covering a number of topics. Laws concerning television deals were of great concern to this research, which reference the legal issues that were at hand. To cover cultural events and the social perception of certain aspects, icons and significant historical moments being two main …

Taming The Spirits: How Late Antiquity Domesticated The Bible's Supernatural World, Brian Pepin

Liberty University Research Week

This study examines a major hermeneutical shift in the interpretation of the Bible’s supernatural worldview, arguing that a decisive transition occurred during late antiquity (ca. AD 250–430). The biblical text presents a cosmos populated by active spiritual beings, including angels, demons, and divine agents influencing nations and history, and early Christian readers largely accepted these elements as real. However, as Christianity increasingly engaged with Greco-Roman intellectual culture, pressures to present the faith as rational and philosophically credible led to growing discomfort with literal readings of supernatural texts.

Through historical-theological analysis of patristic literature, this study traces how influential figures such …

When Faith Becomes A House Of Cards: C.S. Lewis’ Lament, Sadie Sudbrock

Liberty University Research Week

More than three million individuals die annually in the United States (Ahmad et al., 2024). If each of these individuals leaves behind just three people who mourn their loss, that results in over nine million individuals enduring the torment of grief each year. In A Grief Observed, C. S. Lewis offers an excruciatingly candid reflection on loss, capturing the raw thrashings of his mind and heart in the grip of sorrow. This study utilizes a rhetorical criticism employing Burkean cluster analysis, to examine how Lewis rhetorically constructs his evolving perspective on grief, suffering, and faith. Drawing on Kenneth Burke, this …

"I Guess It Was My Turn": German Public Perception Of The Sterilization Program From 1933 - 1939, Dylan Cumbo

Liberty University Research Week

Adolf Hitler's accension to power opened new pathways for anti-disability sentiment. Quickly after his rise to power, they passed the Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases in 1933, allowing the sterilization of people with select disabilities, disorders, and asocial characteristics. This was supported by an additional marriage law the and the establishment of the Office of Racial Policy. Through the use of health courts, around 400,000 were sterilized during the program's operation. The RPA published numerous propaganda pieces to try to coerce the population to completely support the program. Many within Germany resisted the order and pushed …

Implementing The Abcdef Bundle In A Rural Critical Care, Kayla Hubbard

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

Patients admitted to the critical care unit are at risk of debilitating adverse outcomes including Delirium, Post intensive care syndrome (PICS), debility, wounds, depression, and both mental and physical impairments. Complications related to ICU care can easily be combatted by using a multidisciplinary approach. The ABCDEF bundle serves to incorporate all aspects of a critically ill patients care in a simple, easy to follow bundle focusing on assessment of pain (A), both spontaneous awakening ang breathing trials (B), choice of sedation/analgesic (C), delirium (D), early mobility (E), and family involvement (F). A quality improvement project was designed and piloted in …

A Historical Study Of The Nursing Role, Kristen Montgomery, Jessica Aranda Bsn, Rn, Amanda Dalton Bsn, Rn, Machea Scott Bsn, Rn, Lisa Desantis Bsn, Rn, Halle Hilton Bsn, Rn

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

Purpose: Historically, nurses have been at the bedside simply following the direction of physicians, but much has changed since then.

Aims: The purpose of this study is to examine how the roles of nurses have changed over the decades, from pre-professional caregiving to advanced practice. This study focuses on the birth of nursing as a profession, the direct experiences of nurses from different generations, the shift in physician-directed care to collaborative care, how nurses interpret the impact of major healthcare transformations on their role, and the emergence and development of the nurse practitioner role.

Methods: The study was conducted using …

2026 Acssc Program, Acssc Planning Committee

Annual Celebration for Student Scholarship and Creativity

No abstract provided.

Decoding Christianese: Analyzing The Double-Edged Sword Of Evangelical Jargon, David Enns

Liberty University Research Week

This qualitative study investigates the rhetorical function of "Christianese," the insider jargon of American Evangelicalism, responding to the need for clarity in religious communication within a pluralistic and digital society. While religious language is often studied through liturgical or interfaith lenses, limited empirical work exists on the informal, culturally constructed dialect used in everyday evangelical discourse. Utilizing Burke's (1966) terministic screens theory — which posits that language selects, reflects, and deflects reality — this research examines how evangelical slang functions as a gatekeeping mechanism that simultaneously builds community and alienates outsiders. Employing a corpus-based qualitative design, the study analyzed 142 …

Enduring Legacies: The Constitutional And Policy Impact Of The Voting Rights Act Of 1965, Walter James

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Moving Toward Unworthy Life: German Eugenical Views Before 1933, Dylan Cumbo

Liberty University Research Week

The Nazi's campaign against the disabled was not spawned independently. Instead, they were the result of the continuous eugenic efforts under the Weimar republic. Influenced by the theories of Charles Darwin and Francis Galton, German biologists and eugenicists advocated for the implementation of these into German policy. With the collapse of living conditions after World War I and the subsequent rise of disability justified this expansion. Attempts to educate the population and integrate eugenic policies into German law formed the backbone of this period. Publications, such as those by Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche influenced Germans to operate within the …

Myth In Service Of Sin: Theology And Mythology In Dante's Inferno, Holly Staggs

Liberty University Research Week

Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy has been a central focus in medieval poetic scholarship. As a distinctly allegorical work, Dante's epic poem perfectly situates Christian teachings alongside paganism to reinforce a Christian moral order. One of the cornerstone teachings of the 14th century became Bishop John Thorseby's Seven Deadly Sins. While the Seven Deadly Sins teachings were obviously present in Purgatorio, the second part of Dante's poem, they also appear in Inferno. Dante positions them alongside pagan mythological figures in Inferno to strengthen his allegory for Christian moral order.

Spirit-Enabled Sonship In Paul: Adoption And The Cry "Abba", Detron Nelson

Liberty University Research Week

This study examines Paul's theology of adoption in Romans 8:15–23, Galatians 4:4–7, and Ephesians 1:3–14, with particular attention to the term huiothesia and the Spirit-enabled cry "Abba, Father." It argues that adoption in Paul is a Trinitarian act initiated by the Father, accomplished through Christ, and confirmed by the Spirit, establishing believers as sons and heirs within the household of God. By placing Paul's language within its Jewish covenant and Greco-Roman background, this project shows that adoption shapes identity, belonging, inheritance, and ecclesial life. The study concludes that Paul's theology of adoption is not only a doctrinal category, but a …

Ulysses S. Grant: How An Author And A Memoir Saved A President, Forrest Hamilton

Liberty University Research Week

In 1881, former United States President and General Ulysses S. Grant had become involved in a profitable business venture until 1884 when the business went under. To Grant’s absolute horror, he learned that his business was nothing more than an intricate financial scam orchestrated by his partner Ferdinand Ward. After being further blind sighted by a throat cancer diagnosis, Grant was now destitute, dying, and desperately looking for a way to repay debts and save his family from poverty. Salvation would come for Grant in the form of famous American novelist Mark Twain, who was looking for a book to …

Frankincense (Boswellia Spp.) Essential Oils: Chemistry-Driven Authentication, Chemotype Discovery, And Sustainability Insights Across My Published Studies, Prabodh Satyal

Oxford ICSB

Frankincense, which comes from the oleo-gum resins of Boswellia species, is one of the most important botanicals in global trade. However, its essential oils often face issues like variations in chemical makeup, mislabeling, and adulteration. This presentation summarizes findings from ten peer-reviewed studies conducted between 2016 and 2023. These studies create a chemistry-based framework for authenticating frankincense and ensuring sustainable sourcing.  Research on various Boswellia species, including B. sacra, B. carteri, B. papyrifera, B. frereana, B. occulta, B. ogadensis, and B. rivae, shows strong patterns in volatile profiles at both the species and tree levels. This supports distinguishing between species …