Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Cybersecurity Strategies Used To Protect Personal Health Information From Cyberattacks When Using Telemedicine, Samara Torres

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The healthcare industry has been impacted by an increase in cybersecurity breaches because of cyberattacks when using telemedicine. It is crucial that information technology (IT) managers in the private healthcare industry protect personal health information (PHI) to uphold patients’ right to privacy, maintain their trust, prevent legal ramifications, and to comply with government regulations. This qualitative pragmatic research used the integrated system theory (IST) as a road map to explore effective cybersecurity strategies used to protect PHI in telemedicine. The participants were seven IT managers in the private healthcare industry within the United States who had experience with cybersecurity strategies …

Spartan Daily, August 26, 2025, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2025

Volume 165, Issue 2

First Permanent Molar Root Canal Configurations In A South African Sample: A Descriptive Micro-Computed Tomographic Report, Casper Jonker, Guy Lambourn, Peet Van Der Vyver, Theye Charlotte, Federico Foschi, Ericka Noelle L’Abbé, Anna Catherina Oettlé

Peninsula Dental School

The aim of this paper was to describe root canal configurations using micro-CT in South African first molars. A segmentation process was followed on micro-focus X-ray computed tomography (micro-CT) scans of 101 maxillary and 86 mandibular first molars. Main and accessory root canal anatomy were considered to describe root canal configurations of South African first molars. Intra- and inter-observer reliability was determined using the unweighted Cohen’s Kappa test. Intra- and inter-rater agreement was 93% for maxillary configurations; 92.9% and 86.2% respectively for mandibular configurations. The most common main canal configurations were: 3MXFM MB1DB1P1 (n = 33/93, 35.5%) and 2MDFM M1-2D1 …

Highlighting Lgbtq+ International Students Activism Via Participatory Theatre, Fatemeh Gharibi

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This research explores the political activism of LGBTQ+ international students (LGBTQ+ IS) in the Greater Toronto Area in Canada. Building on critical scholarship in research with international students and drawing from queer, feminist, and decolonial frameworks, the study aims to create a space for collective voices and respond to the current political climate of crackdowns on free speech and rising anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. The study employs participatory theatre to understand LGBTQ+ IS’s activist practices in relation to their intersecting identities. The production may contribute to raising public awareness about the challenges faced by these students and their leadership in …

High-Risk Terrorism Inmate Deradicalization: A Complex And Paradoxical Issue In Nusakambangan, Rahmat Amin Siregar

Jurnal Kriminologi Indonesia

Deradicalizing high-risk terrorism inmates is a multifaceted and paradoxical challenge that has not been comprehensively addressed in criminological studies. This research seeks to fill the gaps in previous studies by focusing on the security challenges, personnel difficulties, and prison culture dynamics within super-maximum security facilities in their efforts to deradicalize terrorism inmates. The findings highlight three critical aspects of this complexity. First, the security measures in super-maximum security facilities emphasize the strict implementation of a one-inmate-per-cell system, which minimizes inmate interactions, adheres to high-security standards, and utilizes advanced technological systems. Second, correctional officers face significant challenges, including verbal confrontations from …

The Association Of Smoking, Education, And Income Level With Cancer In Mexican Migrants At The U.S./Mexico Border, Carlo Opont

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cancer is a major public health problem in the United States and around the world. The condition is reported to be among the leading causes of death and has a significant impact on quality of life. The purpose of this study was to explore the association of smoking, education, and income level with cancer in the Mexican migrant population at U.S./Mexico border while controlling for age and gender. This quantitative, retrospective, cross-sectional study with a sample size of 988 used secondary data from the Mexican Migrant Project to explore the potential association between smoking, education and income level with cancer …

Interdisciplinary English Language Arts And Tesol Education To Advance Academic Achievement Of Immigrant, Refugee, And Urban Students, Elizabeth G. Krahe

Research from the Berry Summer Thesis Institute, 2025

By 2043, the United States is projected to become an official “plurality” in which the non-Hispanic White alone population will comprise less than 50% of the nation’s total population (Devine and Ortman, 2014). Schools are reflecting this demographic shift as they are more diverse culturally and racially. Yet the teaching population remains predominantly White middle class females. Teachers need to find ways to engage with all of their students to promote excitement in the classroom to joyfully learn. Reading and writing are central to education and are naturally found in all subject areas to be tied to academic achievement.

This …

Exploring The Meaning Of Moshing: An Ethnographic Study Of The Relationship Between Hardcore/Punk Culture And Catharsis, Clayton Kempf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research looks at “moshing,” an aggressive style of dancing that occurs primarily at hardcore/punk concerts. Moshing involves people at a concert throwing their bodies, swinging their limbs, running into people, and hitting one another. I aim to explore how mosh pits and hardcore/punk culture provide participants with an emotional release through catharsis. Catharsis looks at releasing emotion to help alleviate pent-up stress physically and emotionally. A cathartic release can temporarily offer peace of mind, clarity, and joy that overrides the feelings of negative emotions and stress. I will examine the process people go through to reach this cathartic release …

Chronic Pain: An Exploration Of The Experience Of Chronic Pain, Andrea Alzalde

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chronic pain is a pervasive public health issue within Western society today and amongst humans worldwide. Although chronic pain is something that many people have or will experience sometime in their life, it is a complex experience that does not have a simple universal solution or immediate cure. The causes of pain can be a multitude of things and the treatments that work for some may not work for others. The current research seeks to explore the experience of chronic pain to help fill gaps in the wider research of pain. This study pursues answers to two research questions including; …

Shifting From Damage Towards Desire At History Colorado: An Exploratory Case Study, Amanda Cali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the paradigm shift within the fields of anthropology and museum studies away from decolonization and towards indigenization through a case study of the changes in museological practices of the History Colorado Center in Denver, Colorado, and one of its community museums, the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose, Colorado. This thesis examines the changes in consultation and collaboration, the care and stewardship of collections, the implementation of the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials (PNAAM), and co-curation of exhibits. This thesis looks at the paradigm shift as a movement away from “damage-based research” within communities to “desire-centered research” …

Distributed Sovereignty: Law, Community, And Authority In The Political Theories Of Al-Māwardī, Al-Juwaynī, And Al-Fārābī, Ahmet Çelik

Dissertations - ALL

ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the concept of sovereignty in classical Islamic political thought through a comparative analysis of three major thinkers—al-Māwardī (d. 450/1058), al-Juwaynī (d. 478/1085), and al-Fārābī (d. 339/950)—each representing a distinct epistemic tradition: jurisprudence (fiqh), speculative theology (kalām), and philosophy (falsafa). Employing a conceptual and textual methodology, the study reconstructs a theory of distributed sovereignty in Islamic thought, in which political authority is not centralized in a singular sovereign but dispersed across three interrelated domains: legitimate authority, lawgiving, and governance. Drawing on primary texts—including al-Aḥkām al-Sulṭāniyya, Tashīl al-Naẓar, Ghiyāth al-Umam, al-Madīna al-Fāḍila, al-Siyāsa al-Madanīyya, Kitāb al-Milla, and Iḥṣāʾ …

Race, Space, Taste In The Postwar U.S.: Three Independent Studies On Urban Restaurants In Syracuse, New York, Huseyin Zeyd Koytak

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines how racial inequality shapes the survival, visibility, and strategic adaptation of restaurants in postwar Syracuse, New York. It investigates how commercial food spaces reflect, reinforce, and negotiate racialized patterns of urban development, consumer taste, and economic opportunity. Drawing on longitudinal business and demographic data, a computational content analysis of online restaurant reviews, and original interviews with immigrant restaurateurs, the study integrates quantitative, computational, and qualitative methods to illuminate how race and space co-produce outcomes in the urban food economy. The first empirical chapter shows that Black-majority neighborhoods face higher commercial volatility and shorter restaurant survival, while white-majority …

Fertile, Social, Dangerous, Sacred, Gift, And System: Religion, Salt City Harvest Farm, And The Future Of Human Shit, Sarah Elizabeth Nahar

Dissertations - ALL

Shit, the taboo term for the human excreta that exits the anus, can be understood as sacred. Shitting, the vulgar verb to describe the act of discarding solid excreta, can likewise be understood as religious ritual activity. This counters the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) in the United States (US) of the placement of shit as profane, and shitting as unceremonial. An aim of this dissertation is to reclaim the word shit from the realm of what the DSP has rendered invisible and unspeakable, and spark rigorous academic discussion about it in the context of Religion and Environmental Studies. The DSP …

Ectopic Adipose Tissue In Subsistence Populations With Minimal Coronary Disease, Large Left Atria, And Very Low Rates Of Atrial Fibrillation, Randall C. Thompson, Benjamin C. Trumble, Daniel K. Cummings, Angela D. Neunuebel, Paul L. Hooper, Samuel Wann, Adel H. Allam, Frances Neunuebel, Benjamin D. Gans, Samantha I. King, Edmond Seabright, Caleb E. Finch, Margaret Gatz, Kenneth Buetow, Michael I. Miyamoto, Guido P. Lombardi, M. Linda Sutherland, James D. Sutherland, Christopher J. Ward, Madeleine J. Lee, Ashna Mahadev, Daniel Eid Rodriguez, David E. Michalik, Chris J. Rowan, Tianyu Cao, Jonathan Stieglitz, Cameron M. Quick, Gregory S. Thomas, Jagat Narula, Damini Dey, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan

ESI Publications

Background

Methods

A Multimodal Approach To Assess A Liposomal Carrier’S Biodistribution, Stability, And Clearance, Cayla A Wood, Claire E Jones, Ananthakrishnan Soundaram Jeevarathinam, Riley Watson, Sangheon Han, Jennifer Meyer, Konstantin V Sokolov, Richard R Bouchard

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Liposomal carriers, used for site-specific drug delivery, are being investigated for diagnostic approaches by replacing the therapeutic with an imaging contrast agent, exploring potential for selective treatment planning. There remains a critical need to improve in vivo assessment of biodistribution, stability, and clearance kinetics of liposomal carriers. This pilot study presents a multimodal approach in which liposome-encapsulated J-aggregated indocyanine green (ICG) dye (Lipo-JICG) is imaged with high spatial resolution using both in vivo photoacoustic (PA) imaging, to assess the absorbance characteristics of JICG and monomeric ICG, and ex vivo cryofluorescence tomography (CFT), to measure ICG fluorescence. An in vitro assay …

Impact Of Retrieval Augmented Generation And Large Language Model Complexity On Undergraduate Exams Created And Taken By Ai Agents, Erick S. Tyndall, Colleen Gayheart, Alexandre Some, Joseph Genz, Torrey J. Wagner, Brent T. Langhals

Faculty Publications

The capabilities of large language models (LLMs) have advanced to the point where entire textbooks can be queried using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), enabling AI to integrate external, up-to-date information into its responses. This study evaluates the ability of two OpenAI models, GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4 Turbo, to create and answer exam questions based on an undergraduate textbook. 14 exams were created with four true-false, four multiple-choice, and two short-answer questions derived from an open-source Pacific Studies textbook. Model performance was evaluated with and without access to the source material using text-similarity metrics such as ROUGE-1, cosine similarity, and word embeddings. …

Dragon Guitars And Sexy Zombies: Tracing The Meta-Motion Of The Naga Motif In Northeast Thailand, Aaron Michael Stanley

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Abstract

This thesis traces the evolving symbolism of the Naga motif (a mythic water serpent) in Northeast Thailand through a framework I call meta-motion, which maps symbolic persistence of this cultural signifier and boundary marker across four cultural horizons—animist (Z), Hindu–Khmer (B), Buddhist (A), and modern/global (C). Like electrons in quantum super position, symbolic motifs circulate as overlapping “waves” of potential meaning and are concretized into cultural “particles” only when recruited for specific ritual, commercial, or political purposes. I add a bookend extension to Chang’s Hindu-Buddhist (B/A) typology with the addition of Horizons Z and C in order to make …

An Empirical Examination Of Student Dropout In A Diverse Campus Environment, Zahid Iqbal, Shekar Shetty

Southwestern Business Administration Journal

Abstract

This study expands on the existing literature by examining dropout behavior of minority college students. Specifically, the study compares determinants of retention for large ethnic student groups in the College of Business of an ethnically-diverse college campus. The dynamics of retention and progression are not known for college campuses with large representations of ethnic students. Our empirical findings show that college GPA explains student dropout for all ethnic groups. We find evidence of a positive association between dropout and male students for African-American and White ethnicities. Additionally, dropout has a positive association with online classes for African-Americans and Hispanics …

A Complex Border: Intractability And The Physical Roots Of Discursive Legitimations In Cyprus, Hilmi Ulas

Peace Studies Faculty Articles and Research

The Cypriot conflict is one of the most intractable conflicts of the modern era, and the collapse of complexity among the actors in the conflict—mainly the Republic of Cyprus, North Cyprus, and Turkey—appears to be the main cause of the continued “no war, no peace” state. Subsequent socio-psychological self-organization among these actors then produces conflict-perpetuating feedback loops and dynamics. These dynamics include identity narratives, narratives of “the other,” and narratives of the nature of the conflict, which, at the grassroots level, can legitimize ongoing engagement in the conflict, whereas peace is painted as an undesirable and undeserved/unjust compromise. Given this, …

Late Holocene Paleodietary Patterns Among The Ancestral Ohlone: Ecogeographic Partitioning Of Resources Along The San Francisco Bay Eastern Shore, Melanie M. Beasley, Eric J. Bartelink, Alan Leventhal, Monica V. Arellano, Richard Massiatt, Charlene Nijmeh

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Objectives: In the San Francisco Bay Area, Late Holocene resource intensification models predict an increase in diet breadth and a reduction in foraging efficiency associated with an increase in population, sedentism, and territoriality among fisher-hunter-gatherer populations. Here we compare bone stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotope values of sites along the eastern bay shore to interpret how ecogeographical partitioning of resources by latitude and distance from the bay reflects differential access and control of resources. Materials and Methods: With the support of, and in collaboration with, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay …

The Label Of Low Effort: Exploring Teachers’ Effort-Related Language, Meritocratic Beliefs, And Attribution-Based Responsibility Assignments, Kelly A. Larson

Doctorate in Education

Educators play an integral role in the academic success and future educational trajectory of their students. Yet, in an unjust, hyper-individualistic education system grounded in a meritocratic myth, even the most well-intentioned teachers have a tendency to explain students’ underperformance through a self-protective, deficit-based attribution process that puts the onus of academic achievement almost entirely on students and their families. This recursive cycle is especially damaging for students who do not exhibit effort in normalized, Eurocentric ways. This study examines how teachers’ attributions and responsibility assignments for students’ perceived low-effort behavior are shaped by inequitable meritocratic beliefs and reinforced through …

Khallat Abu Ḥalaḥ: The Shells / ח'לת אבו חלאח: ממצא הקונכיות, Inbar Ktalav

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

The excavations at Khallat Abu Halah uncovered 24 shells, including 14 marine shells from the Mediterranean Sea, two freshwater bivalves—one local and the other originating from the Nile—and eight terrestrial snails. Most of the shells were dated to the Byzantine period but were not found in situ, making it difficult to interpret their use. The Mediterranean shells indicate a connection to the Mediterranean coast, whereas the freshwater bivalve from the Nile suggests connections with Egypt, likely via Caesarea. The terrestrial species are similar to those found in the region today, indicating that the environmental conditions in the area during the …

Khallat Abu ḤAlaḥ: The Coins, Gabriela Bijovsky

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

A modest number of coins was discovered during the excavations at Khallat Abu Ḥalaḥ, dating from the fourth to the mid-seventh centuries CE. Most of the coins belong to common types that deserve no special discussion. Noteworthy is a rare Alexandrian dodecanummium of Maurice Tiberius. The latest coin is a very worn follis of Heraclius, dated to 624/628 CE.

Khallat Abu ḤAlaḥ: A Byzantine-Period Structure At Ramot Menashe / ח'לת אבו חלאח: מבנה מן התקופה הביזנטית ברמות מנשה, Ron Be'eri

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

The excavation at Khallat Abu Ḥalaḥ uncovered part of a Byzantine-period structure comprising several rectangular rooms, corresponding to five construction phases. One of these rooms may have functioned as a bathhouse. Remains of another nearby structure decorated with a cross were also revealed, along with the upper fragment of a small chalkstone altar incised with a cross; a road paved with small stones and flanked by two walls that led to the site and continued toward Naḥal Dalia; and several field walls, one of which may have served as an enclosure. The finds from the site—including a fragment of a …

Bioarchaeological Analysis Of Three Individuals Excavated From Palikè Di Mineo, Sicily, August M. Stone, Madison Rieth, William Burnett

Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal

This study presents the analysis of three individuals excavated from the area of Palikè di Mineo, Sicily in May and June of 2023. The archaeological area contained numerous burials, but this study focuses on two adult male and one subadult (child). Burials are estimated to be from the Imperial Period of the Roman Empire (20 CE - 360 CE). Information collected includes age, sex, stature, and taphonomy of the individuals. Burial style, artifacts, and position of the burials are used to present data on the possible conditions of life in ancient Sicily. This article contributes data to the greater discussion …

Biographies, Editorial Team

Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Sac Newsletter 2025, South Asia Center

Newsletters from the South Asia Center

No abstract provided.

The Perceived Impact Of Officer-Involved Domestic Violence On Law Enforcement Administrators, Victoria Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The frequency of officer-involved domestic violence (OIDV) is a serious problem in the law enforcement profession. This qualitative phenomenological study aimed to determine what measures and specific domestic violence policies are working well and what is working poorly in Florida. This study is critical because it can aid upcoming law enforcement administrators (LEAs) and current LEAs in improving the policies and measures they use in their agency to combat OIDV among their officers and recruits. Jacques’s organizational culture theory (OCT) provided a framework for this study. I used purposeful snowball sampling methods to recruit participants for this study. Six law …

Interview With Nick Angeloff, Jacey Terrill

What Happened Here

This is a transcript of an oral history interview with Nicolas Angeloff, a lecturer at Cal Poly Humboldt, Senior Research Advisor to the new director and co-directors at the Cultural Resources Facility, and an HSU alumnus. He has worked at the CRF since 1996 and has been a lecturer since 2018. He describes that he was unsurprised by a protest occurring, knowing the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict and recent escalating events. He disagrees with some protesters’ choice to aggravate the police and destroy property. He also thought the immediate police presence and subsequent reaction by protesters were unproductive. He …

“Wild Things Belong Outside”: An Ecofeminist Analysis Of Amy Greene’S Bloodroot, Karrah N. Davidson

Critical Humanities

Appalachian Literature has a canon of its own, one of which I believe Amy Greene’s groundbreaking novel, Bloodroot should be a more prominent part. The novel brings up important cultural as well as universal issues. Situating this work among relevant theory and scholarship allows us to think seriously about the themes that Green explores in the novel in a way that has not been done before. Additionally, I believe that there is important scholarly work to be done with the role of Appalachian Folk Magic in a world where some of these traditions and customs are dying out. Individuals within …