Digital Commons Network^™

Holding Fossil Fuel Producers Accountable In U.S. And Other Foreign Courts: A Climate Justice Pathway For Sierra Leone, Jamil Sahid Fofanah

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Leveraging Transformer-Based Ocr Model With Generative Data Augmentation For Engineering Document Recognition, Wael Khallouli, Mohammad Shahab Uddin, Andres Sousa-Poza, Jiang Li, Samuel Kovacic

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The long-standing practice of document-based engineering has resulted in the accumulation of a large number of engineering documents across various industries. Engineering documents, such as 2D drawings, continue to play a significant role in exchanging information and sharing knowledge across multiple engineering processes. However, these documents are often stored in non-digitized formats, such as paper and portable document format (PDF) files, making automation difficult. As digital engineering transforms processes in many industries, digitizing engineering documents presents a crucial challenge that requires advanced methods. This research addresses the problem of automatically extracting textual content from non-digitized legacy engineering documents. We introduced …

Racial And Rural Disparities In Financial Toxicity And Healthcare Transitions Among Adolescent And Young Adult Cancer Survivors In Kentucky, Jean S. Edward, Brent J. Shelton, Lauren Corum, Haafsah Fariduddin, Katie Brown, John A. D’Orazio, Kimberly D. Northrip

Physiology Faculty Publications

Introduction: Adolescent and young adult cancer survivors, especially racial/ethnic minorities and rural residents are particularly vulnerable to financial toxicity due to limited healthcare access, socioeconomic disparities, and cultural/language barriers. These social determinants of health compound financial hardship and contribute to poor healthcare transitions from pediatric to adult care, leading to worse outcomes and higher mortality rates. Methods: Our cross-sectional survey study examined racial (Black vs White) and geographic (rural vs urban) disparities in financial toxicity and healthcare transition outcomes among 260 adolescent and young adult cancer survivors through the Kentucky Cancer Registry. Survey data were collected on financial toxicity, healthcare …

Assessing Attitudes Towards Plagiarism Among Health Professionals: The Impact Of Scientific Writing Training, Humera Adeeb, Brekhna Jamil, Ihsan . Ullah

Health Professions Education

Purpose. Plagiarism is a common form of academic misconduct with damaging consequences to researchers and science. There is a need to explore attitudes towards plagiarism and adopt strategies to mitigate its effects.

Method. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among health professionals attending a course at Khyber Medical University. Data were collected from 1st September 2022 to 31st January 2023. Attitudes towards plagiarism questionnaire, with 29 items on a five-point Likert scale, was distributed on google forms to 240 participants. Age, gender, qualification, previously attended course on scientific writing and authoring an article were described as proportions. The unpaired t-test …

The Role Of Organizational Routines In Perpetuating Disparities Among African American Students In Secondary Advanced Academic Programs: A Mixed Methods Study, J. Nichelle Wimbush

Theses and Dissertations

The academic excellence gap, which refers to the disproportionalities of minority groups in advanced academic programs, presents challenges for educational leaders striving to provide access to equitable educational opportunities for all students. This study, guided by Charles Tilly’s opportunity hoarding, examines the systematic underrepresentation of African American students in advanced academic programs. Using a transformative mixed methods design, the researcher analyzes enrollment patterns, the intersectionality of race and gifted identification in K-5, and teacher and leader perceptions of how organizational routines influence student enrollment in advanced academic courses, grades 9-12, in a school district in West Central Georgia. Redacted student …

Targeting Als: A Multi-Cellular Study On The Potential Therapeutic Role Of Azole-Based Compounds, Alisha R. Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that leads to the degeneration of motor neurons, which control voluntary muscle movements such as eating, speaking, and breathing. As these neurons are damaged, voluntary movement ceases, leading to a fatal outcome. The survival time of ALS patients varies, ranging from a few months to up to 10 years. Chapter 1 of this thesis provides an overview of ALS, highlighting the role of transactive response DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43), a key feature in ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases. The aggregation of TDP-43, particularly due to …

To Be Loved Is To Be Seen: Gazing As A Form Of Interpretation In The Turn Of The Screw, Yasmin Mezayek

Theses and Dissertations

The heated discourse that would follow Henry James’s novella “The Turn of the Screw” centered on whether the ghosts were real or not. With Shoshana Felman’s groundbreaking article “Turning the Screw of Interpretation” a new-found focus on the ambiguities, as opposed to finding a singular, definitive meaning of the novella would usurp the Freudian and anti-Freudian arguments. With the governess’s sight being the main source of debate, reading the novella through the Lacanian lens of the Gaze, the Imaginary, and the Symbolic offer unprecedented explanations and arguments for the governess’s behavior. Given the contemporary shift to discussing the ambiguities of …

Lights, Camera, Action: A Student's Perspective On Reimagining Film Production Opportunities, Ma'lon I. Lane

Theses and Dissertations

The pursuit of a crew job in the film industry is a multifaceted endeavor, offering various pathways that cater to diverse aspirations and circumstances. Central to this exploration is the question of whether attending a university and obtaining a degree in film is essential for success. I was determined to answer the following: What is the likelihood that a higher education in Film Production leads to more efficient job acquisition in the film industry? The project is considered narrative, originating from the personal quality of the research questions. I used my resources to gather qualitative data through interviews of film …

Online Parameter Adaptation Of Lqr Controllers Via Rls For Prosthetic Joint Control: Experimental Validation On A Quanser Qube-Servo 2 Platform, Cynthia Lopez-Jordan

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis develops and experimentally validates an online adaptive Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) control method for prosthetic joint systems using Recursive Least Squares (RLS)-based real-time parameter estimation on the Quanser QUBE-Servo 2 platform. Traditional LQR controllers assume a fxed system model, which limits adaptability and results in reduced tracking accuracy, poor robustness, and loss of optimal performance when applied to dynamically changing prosthetic joints, infuenced by load variations, user gait changes, and mechanical wear. Limited experimental validation exists for combining RLS with online LQR adaptation in prosthetic-like systems.

To address these limitations, an RLS-driven Adaptive LQR framework was implemented to …

From Curiosity To Controversy: American Perception Of Japanese Immigrants, 1853-1924, Chloe Elizabeth Curbelo

Theses and Dissertations

In the mid-nineteenth century, as the United States reached the Pacific through westward expansion, Asia emerged as a new stage for commerce and power. Japan, long isolated under the Tokugawa shogunate, became an object of American fascination when forced into relations. While early depictions cast Japan as an exotic yet uncivilized nation in need of Western guidance, Japan’s rapid modernization and the growing number of Japanese immigrants on the West Coast transformed curiosity into anxiety. My paper traces this evolution of perception from 1850 to 1924, arguing that shifting views of Japan and its people reflected America’s ethnocentric notions of …

“Democracy,” Usa, Marc Edelman

Publications and Research

What does it mean to be an effective citizen in a democracy? Answering this question requires unpacking “democracy” and an analysis of institutions that systematically disempower and alienate citizens. This paper briefly examines the contributions of psychoanalysis to understanding democracy and authoritarianism. It scrutinizes U.S. governance institutions and points to democratic deficits and backsliding present even before Trump 1.0 and 2.0. These range from the Electoral College, the Senate, and the Supreme Court to the Federal Communications Commission. All contributed to institutionalizing minority rule and elite capture. Governance institutions failed to deliver what the American people tell opinion pollsters they …

The Stories We Told Ourselves: The American War On Terror Zine, Abbas Tabish, Iqra Shagufta Cheema

The Lender Center for Social Justice

An eight-panel zine about the American War on Terror

Cultural Differences In The Use Of Augmented Reality Smart Glasses (Arsgs) Between The U.S. And South Korea: Privacy Concerns And The Technology Acceptance Model, Se Jung Kim, Yoon Lee, Tamara Chock

Media Studies - Open-Access Faculty Scholarship

Augmented Reality Smart Glasses (ARSGs) allow users to engage in picture-taking and video recording, as well as real-time storage and sharing of pictures and videos through cloud services. Unlike smartphones, newer ARSGs resemble ordinary sunglasses, allowing for unobtrusive recording. As these devices become available on an international market, it is important to understand how different cultural attitudes towards privacy and the recording and sharing of images of bystanders could impact the acceptance and adoption of ARSGs. South Korea and the United States have vastly different culturally based perceptions of photography and recording in public. S. Korea has cultural and legal …

Masc Affect: Affective Masculinity In Video Games Research, Joshua Foust

Media Studies - Open-Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Source Attribution And Detection Strategies For Ai-Era Journalism, Regina Luttrell, Jason Davis, Carrie Welch

Media Studies - Open-Access Faculty Scholarship

Continued access to genuine, verified news is important in providing news audiences with information about events of social importance. Sophisticated methods of detection and attribution must be applied to counter the proliferation of AI-generated mis- and disinformation and uphold journalistic values. This study examines the complexities of transparency in journalism and AI in relation to source attribution. While various AI analytics claim performance capabilities on specific tasks related to media detection, there remains a need for a standard evaluative framework that can comparatively measure the success of these various analytics. This paper explores how the Theory of Content Consistency (ToCC) …

Toward A Combine-Style Approach To Predicting Future Esports Success, Nicholas David Bowman, Kevin Sweeney, Aaron R. Seitz, C. Shawn Green

Media Studies - Open-Access Faculty Scholarship

Historically, there has been a great deal of interest in using basicmeasures of individual difference factors to predict future success in traditional sports. For instance, the National Football League (NFL) holds a scouting combine each year prior to the NFL draft during which a host of attributes about players are measured, from basic height and weight, to sprint speed, to jumping capacity, to strength. Even among an already highly selected group of individuals (i.e., individuals skilled enough to even be considered for the NFL), such measures have been seen to have some degree of utility in predicting future performance. The …

Cultural Coordinates Of Credibility And Sticky Scripts: Womaning Versus Lawyering In The Indian Legal System, Bhumika Billa

Socio-Legal Review

Based on a multimodal and empirical analysis, the article presents Indian women (identifying) lawyers’ lived experiences of epistemic injustice at the sites of legal work in Delhi. The analysis brings a painting, a short film, and 15 semi-structured interviews in conversation with each other to understand women lawyers’ shared experiences of being perceived as “less credible,” and the strategies they have been adopting to assert credibility. The theoretical contribution can be captured by three key arguments. First, using Arpita Singh’s painting, ‘My Lollipop City: Gemini Rising, 2005,’ I argue that the Indian legal system has a “sense of” Delhi. …

Themed Experience & Attractions Academic Symposium 2025 Proceedings, Themed Experience & Attractions Academic Society

Proceedings of the Annual Themed Experience & Attractions Academic Symposium

No abstract provided.

Collaborative Groups In Math: How Student Grouping Strategies Can Impact Math Achievement, Trevor S. Fletcher, Jenifer J. Dise

Graduate Research Papers

This study looked into the academic effect of student grouping strategies in math class. Twentyseven third graders, attending a public charter elementary school in the South and nine sixth graders, attending a public elementary school in the Midwest, are the participants in this study. Most of the third grade students scored below grade-level, and most of the sixth grade students scored above grade-level on their recent respective state tests in math. This study focuses on the academic effect of the style of collaborative grouping based on exit tickets and a survey on student thinking about math. When collaboration was used, …

Arts-Integrated Mindfulness: Social-Emotional Learning For Elementary Education, Ashley J. M. Canny, Katherine A. Taylor Clausen, Amanda K. Cox, Bryce D. Cox

Graduate Research Papers

This action research investigates the impact of arts-integrated mindfulness practices on elementary students’ ability to self-regulate. In response to a significant rise in emotional dysregulation and mental health concerns among young learners - exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic - this study explores how combining mindfulness techniques with artistic expression can enhance emotional awareness, focus, and resilience. Through classroom activities such as breathing exercises, movement, music, and visual arts, students were guided to engage in self-reflection and emotion regulation in creative, accessible ways. Data collected through student surveys and observational records indicated that most participants experienced improved calmness, engagement, and readiness …

On Marriage, Children, And Other Expectations: The Feminist Absurd In Rachel Cusk’S Outline, Nadine Koochou

Helene Lafrance Library Undergraduate Research Award

This article is a literary analysis of Rachel Cusk's Outline. In it, Koochou argues that all of the characters in the novel are grappling with the absurdist idea that life lacks any inherent meaning, that the universe is God-less and without empathy. Thus, the characters try, to varying degrees of success, to create their own sense of meaning in life. This philosophical questioning is especially exemplified by the ambivalent stance the characters take towards supposedly sacred structures in society, such as marriage and childrearing. In doing so, Cusk writes a novel that joins theories of feminism and absurdism, suggesting that …

Bridging Digital Literacy Gaps With Ai-Driven Semantic Search Technologies, Bin Hu, Hong Xie, Ifrah Malik, Noman Sohail, Qiyang Chen, Razaz Waheeb Attar

Department of Information Management and Business Analytics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study examined how digital literacy influences user interactions with artificial intelligence–driven semantic search engines compared with traditional keyword-based search systems. The authors assessed whether an artificial intelligence–driven search enhances efficiency, query quality, and user satisfaction across varying digital literacy levels, in particular complex information retrieval tasks. Sixty participants, categorized into three digital literacy groups (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) on the basis of the European Commission’s Digital Competence Framework, completed six search tasks (three simple, three complex) using both traditional and artificial intelligence–driven search engines. Performance was measured by task completion time, query quality, and user satisfaction. Statistical analyses (analysis …

Did You Know That Having A Deaf Mom Can Be A Social Issue?, Cameron Hayden-Davi

Celebrating Writers and Writing in our Communities

No abstract provided.

Occupying All Sides Of The Desk: A Feminist Methodological Approach To Teaching, Research, And Mentoring, David Powers Corwin, Siri Lalukota, Angelica Lovelace, Lindsay Lowry

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This article focuses on a curriculum research collaboration among students (high school, undergraduate and graduate) and faculty to create college-level courses that focus on feminist media studies. As a reflection and extension of our work, we tell our polyvocal story of this collaboration while arguing that this work is a feminist methodology that could be used in pedagogical and other academic and public contexts.

A Conversation On Feminist Digital Humanities, Jessica Frazier, Tamar Carroll, Shweta Sachdeva Jha, Leandra Zarnow

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

The forum below came into being out of a curiosity to learn more about feminist scholars’ creation and use of digital humanities projects, platforms, and media to forward their research and teaching. Participants discussed the possibilities and perils of feminist digital humanities projects as they shared their unique experiences and perspectives. Larger trends in the conception, design, and operation of feminist digital humanities are visible in the conversation that follows—notably all three participants expressed a desire to work with digital media as a means of producing and sharing feminist knowledge and resistance narratives with broader audiences.

Feminist Digital Center: Building An Online Hub For Undergraduate Feminist Scholarship, Julie Shayne, Tessa Denton, Denise Hattwig

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This paper is about The Feminist Digital Center (FDC). We begin by briefly theoretically situating our project in discussions of feminist and open pedagogy, high impact practices, and digital scholarship. Next, we discuss how the FDC came to be, institutionally and digitally, with particular emphasis on the assignments students did to fill the site. We close with why the site matters. We hope readers will attempt some version of this project at your institutions and find value in the model we share.

Latina Triunfadoras: Testimonios And Consejos Of Latina Superintendents In California, Marisela Kinn

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The current dissertation examined the leadership of six Latina leaders in the executive role of the superintendency, presenting valuable testimonios (M. A. Martinez et al., 2017) that detail the early educational and familial experiences shaping the Latina superintendents’ journeys to the superintendency. The qualitative study used the community cultural wealth framework (Yosso, 2005) and a feminista perspective grounded in Chicana/Latina feminist epistemology (Delgado Bernal, 1998) and Latina leadership (Bordas, 2013, 2023) to explore the leadership principles employed by the six superintendents. The study revealed three significant findings. First, Latina superintendents’ parents instilled a work ethic of perseverance, hard work, and …

Human, Greg Pronovost-Carlson

Celebrating Writers and Writing in our Communities

No abstract provided.

Bruen: The Court's Announcement Of The Historical Analogy Test And The Aftermath Thereof, Michael Partrick

Wyoming Law Review

The United States Supreme Court’s history of analyzing firearms restrictions has seemingly always led to ambiguities and confusion in lower courts. This was especially true after 2008, when the Court decided District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008). In the years following Heller, lower courts across the country applied different standards to determine the constitutionality of firearms restrictions. The Court granted certiorari in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022) to establish the proper test for determining whether a firearm regulation is constitutional. This test is based on U.S. …

Legislating Morality: The Historical Consequences Of The Mann Act On The American Public, Chance J. Harper

Wyoming Law Review

The Mann Act, officially titled the “White Slave Traffic Act of June 25 1910,” was a product of a time of immense social, ethnic, and political change. The Mann Act was presented as the solution to “white slavery”— an imagined crisis where white-American girls were forced into prostitution. This crisis was attributed to the influx of traditionally “othered” ethnic groups, which shocked the nation and prompted sweeping action by politicians to protect white-American values and culture in the name of stopping forced prostitution. In addition to perceived threats to American values, fears of immigrant power as a voting block and …