Digital Commons Network^™

November 2025 Academic Affairs Minutes, University Of Nebraska At Kearney Academic Affairs Committee

Academic Affairs Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

Vista: November 20, 2025, University Of San Diego

USD Vista (1965-)

No abstract provided.

Safety, Security, And… Beavers? An Engineer's Low-Tech Climate Strategy, Matt Mullins

University College: Environmental Policy and Management Capstones

Colorado’s headwaters are the source of drinking water to millions and are a key pillar of the state’s tourism industry. Consequently, they are some of the most vulnerable areas to natural disasters including wildfires, droughts and flooding. Climate change will increase the severity and frequency of these natural disasters. This project focuses on some of the most vulnerable areas from an economic and climate change perspective of Colorado’s headwaters including the Big Thompson River, and the Colorado River. These headwaters located in and around Estes Park, Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park are currently severely impaired. Low-tech process-based restoration …

Incivility Experienced By Males In Nursing Education, Christopher S. Hale

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Background: Nursing shortages are exacerbated by unhealthy learning environments. Men remain underrepresented among nursing students and faculty, yet their experiences of incivility are rarely examined.

Purpose: Guided by Clark’s Model of Civility in Nursing Education, this dissertation explored how male nursing students and educators in U.S. prelicensure programs experience incivility and how these patterns inform strategies to promote civility and retention.

Methods: This compendium includes (a) an integrative review of nursing faculty mistreatment using Whittemore and Knafl’s method; (b) a cross-sectional survey of male nursing educators and students using the Incivility in Nursing Education–Revised (INE-R) to estimate the prevalence and …

Ailan Zhu V. Attorney General United States Of America

2025 Decisions

Agency

Place, History, And Memory: New York City’S World’S Fairs In Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Peter Conolly-Smith

Open Educational Resources

This proposal for an intermediate-level History seminar taps into students’ memory, sense of place, and history skills by focusing on a space many of them already know: Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. From its origins as wetlands converted in the early twentieth century to a dumping ground for ashes memorialized in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and on to its later incarnation as the site of the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs, the park’s history and those of the two fairs—richly documented, all—provide ample material for a place-based seminar that utilizes multiple aspects of experiential learning.

While all the reading and …

Global Development Theories At Your Doorstep, Jorge A. Alves

Open Educational Resources

This resource is an assignment for a course on the politics of international development (PSCI 230). This assignment will likely be a summative assignment either at the end of the first unit (where I discuss the different theories / approaches to development over time) or perhaps a substitute for the midterm exam. The goals of the assignment are A) for students to localize and critically ground existing global theories of development in their own lived experience / communities, and B) critically reflect on core assumptions and implications about the different conceptualizations of development (especially to see how these approaches might …

The Comment, November 20, 2025, Bridgewater State University

The Comment

No abstract provided.

Interview No. 1798, Alvaro Sauza

Combined Interviews

This oral history interview was conducted with Alvaro Sauza, age 81, a pastor, migrant minister, engineer, and founder of Adelante Naturopathic Center. Born in Monterrey, Mexico, he recounted his childhood faith, his family’s early connection to Adventism, and the spiritual calling that led him to migrate to the United States. He described discovering his hearing impairment while attempting to study English in seminary, which made learning the language nearly impossible and shaped the rest of his ministry. Despite speaking almost exclusively Spanish and navigating daily life with only a few English words, he built a long, border-centered pastoral career, preaching …

Creating An Iot User Centric Security And Privacy Label, Luke Joseph Gleba

Theses and Dissertations

Concerns for cybersecurity awareness and training in the public have been rising at astronomical rates over the past few years. People globally have entered a critical intersection with computers. Computers are being used in everyday life, and users do not have an easy way to understand their own cyber risk. Consumers deserve to know how secure their new Internet of Things (IoT) system is in a quick, efficient way before they purchase the device and while they own it. The following research looks to improve on ideas for the criteria and the development of a security label. Few prototypes currently …

Sex Differences In Self-Medication Patterns And Stress, Darin Challacombe, Paterson Romero

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: The current study sought to find out to what degree the linkage exists between sex, stress levels, and self-medication activities. Method: We used an anonymous survey in both English and Spanish and surveyed 615 participants, of which the average age was 36.5 years. For gender, participants coded themselves as “male” (n = 350) and “female” (n = 243). We did not request participants to code ethnicity. We used a demographics questionnaire, a list of substances used for self-medication along with some questions about self-medication activities, and the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen & Williamson, 1988). Results: We found a significant …

Navigating Structure, Function, And Stability: Bridging Immunotherapy And Protein Engineering In The Era Of Machine Learning, Christopher J. Haynie

Theses and Dissertations

The immune system is a remarkably adaptive network, yet it often fails to function optimally due to evasion strategies of pathogens or mutated cells. Many of these evasion strategies involve alterations in protein expression and function. Protein design is an area of computational biology with potential applications in improving protein function and therapeutic protein engineering. This thesis explores methods to enhance immune function and protein design across multiple scales, from molecular engineering of antibody fragments and chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to cellular immune responses, and computational approaches for protein structure optimization. We characterize Thymidine Kinase 1-specific single-chain antibodies, highlighting both …

The Mcgill Diverse Face Database: 92 Complex Mental States Across Socially Perceived Racial Categories, Gunnar Schmidtmann

School of Health Professions

Theory of Mind (ToM)—the ability to infer others’ mental states—is fundamental to social cognition. Social categorization, the grouping of individuals into in-group or out-group categories, shapes these inferences. These processes co-occur during facial perception, with recent research suggesting both shared neurocognitive mechanisms and modulation of ToM by social category cues. However, existing tools for studying the impact of racial diversity on social cognition are limited: some databases prioritize racial representation but restrict stimuli to the six basic emotions, while others broaden mental state diversity but lack diversity in social appearance.Here we introduce the McGill Diverse Face Database, a validated set …

Final Assignment - Group Performance, Asya Gorovits

Open Educational Resources

The final assignment invites students to collaboratively devise and perform a site-specific, immersive theatrical experience in the ground floor of the Music Library. Working in groups, students will create a 7-minute mini-scene that engages with the space, considers audience sensory and emotional experience, and draws on techniques from twentieth-century avant-garde movements as well as insights from their midterm fieldwork. Through workshops, rehearsals, and a public performance, students practice creative collaboration, spatial analysis, and experiential design. The project emphasizes process, responsibility, and teamwork, enabling students to apply course concepts in embodied ways while developing practical skills in directing, performing, and devising. …

Midterm Assignment, Asya Gorovits

Open Educational Resources

This midterm assignment invites students to investigate theatricality beyond traditional theatre spaces by attending and analyzing a live, non-theatrical event such as a concert, religious service, festival, sports game, tour, or audio-guided experience. Through a 4–5 page reflective paper and a brief oral presentation, students will observe audience behavior, spatial dynamics, and implicit rules of participation, and relate these observations to early anti-realist theatrical movements discussed in class. The assignment develops close observation, critical thinking, and communication skills while encouraging students to connect personal experience with historical avant-garde practices and to contribute to a collaborative exploration of how performance operates …

Semaglutide Use Before Single-Level Lumbar Fusion Associated With Fewer Readmissions And 90-Day Costs, Mitchell K. Ng, Paul G. Mastrokostas, Ariel N. Rodriguez, Abigail Razi, Leonidas E. Mastrokostas, Ahmed K. Emara, Brian T. Ford, Jacquelyn J. Xu, Jonathan Dalton, Rajkishen Narayanan, Christopher K. Kepler, Alan S. Hilibrand, Alex R. Vaccaro, Jad Bou Monsef, Afshin E. Razi

Rothman Institute Papers

CONTEXT: Semaglutide, a glucagon-like protein-1 receptor agonist used in diabetes and obesity management, has demonstrated perioperative benefits in other surgical populations. However, its role in spine surgery remains unclear.

AIMS: This study aims to evaluate whether patients undergoing single-level lumbar fusion demonstrate: (1) fewer medical complications; (2) surgical complications; and (3) healthcare utilization as measured by readmissions and costs.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study using a national claims database from 2010 to 2021.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients with diabetes mellitus undergoing single‑level lumbar fusion were identified and matched 1:5 using propensity scores based on age, sex, body mass …

Hide And Seek: Offshore Financial Centers And Targeted Sanctions, Menevis Cilizogula, Chelsea Estancona

Faculty Publications

The movement of capital across borders has never been easier, as evidenced by the recent proliferation of offshore financial services. But these services are a double-edged sword: while boosting economic efficiency, they can also facilitate illicit financial activity. In this paper, we discuss the symbiotic relationship between financial liberalization and the pursuit of financial anonymity by secrecy-seeking actors. We examine a hide-and-seek dynamic between governments increasing monitoring of international finance and actors seeking anonymity via offshore financial centers. Under what conditions can international financial monitoring have the unintended consequence of increasing the use of poorly regulated and opaque offshore financial …

Back To Basics: Empowering Our Patient Support Team Members As Healthcare Leaders, Colleen Coyne, Elizabeth Thachanalil Xavier, Cristina Romancyck

Biennial Convention (CONV)

This presentation explores "Patient Care Basics," a transformative orientation session designed to equip newly onboarded patient support staff with knowledge, skills, and confidence to deliver exceptional patient-centered care. A needs assessment revealed a gap regarding leadership and patient-centered care. This program addresses the vital role of patient support team members by adapting adult learning principles and foundational patient care concepts. We identified the unique needs of these often first-time healthcare workers by collaboration with stakeholders.

"Patient Care Basics" utilizes a two-part, session-based approach. The first session immerses participants in a collaborative hospital leadership simulation. Working in small groups, participants establish …

The Effects Of Eliminating Idiomatic American English From High-Stakes Nursing Examinations, Timothy Michael Parker

Biennial Convention (CONV)

Background: In the United States, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) health care providers are important to the nursing workforce but often face challenges when taking the NCLEX-RN examination. This study evaluated the effects of removing slang and words with multiple meanings from high-stakes examination questions.

Method: This study used a quantitative, experimental posttest-only control group design and included a convenience sample of 169 nursing students from a college in southern Florida.

Results: Nursing students per-formed significantly better on the experimental (M = 79.9 [7.48]) than on the control examination (M = 75.08 [10.51]), t(151.8) = 2.973, p = …

Into The Arms Of Earth, Alex Paat

Theses

This thesis investigates the construction of a visual language illuminating the Biblical theme of duality-union. Section 1 provides an overview of duality-union across Scripture, investigates the portrayal of duality-union in the Biblical theme of Heaven and Earth, and summarizes criteria for a successful visual language surrounding this concept. Section 2 outlines and justifies the building blocks of this visual language, which include clay, neon, a gestural building process, arboreal imagery, references to the mandorla shape, an optimistic aesthetic influenced by midcentury children's book illustration, and found objects. Section 3 provides a description and assessment of the seven pieces that make …

Perceived Risk Of Colorectal Cancer In Oman: Implications For Screening And Prevention, Adhari A. Al Zaabi, Amira Alamri, Thamra Al Ghafri, Ahmed Alhabsi, Munther Alzidi, Abdulmalik Alsarmi, Asmaa Alshidhani

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide and is the most diagnosed malignancy among men in Oman. Although it has historically affected older populations, a troubling rise in CRC incidence among younger demographics has emerged in recent years. This study assessed perceived CRC risk, beliefs, and awareness among Omani adults and identified sociodemographic predictors to inform culturally tailored prevention strategies. Methods: A national cross-sectional survey of 1,060 adults aged ≥18 years was conducted across Oman between March and August 2023 using a validated questionnaire adapted from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). …

Providencia Rettgeri As An Unusual Pathogen In Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis: A Case Report And Literature Review, Stephanie N. Campbell, Madeleine Mehaffey, Nikita Gambhir, Amanda L. Killeen

School of Podiatric Medicine Publications

Providencia rettgeri is a Gram-negative bacterium, rarely reported as a cause of diabetic wound infections. Its frequent resistance to β-lactams and carbapenems limits treatment options, especially in immunocompromised patients. We present the case of a 59-year-old unhoused male living with diabetes, peripheral artery disease, and prior bilateral transmetatarsal amputations who presented with a University of Texas 3B diabetic foot ulcer. Magnetic resonance imaging showed osteomyelitis of metatarsals 2–4, and bone biopsy grew Providencia rettgeri and Proteus mirabilis. The patient declined further surgery and was treated with 6 weeks of cefepime and metronidazole, with outpatient wound care, achieving wound closure …

Queens College Paranormal Investigation, Ash Marinaccio

Open Educational Resources

This two-week module for MEDST 343W (Nonfiction Forms) invites students to explore the “paranormal” as a nonfiction form through experiential, critical, and creative engagement. Framing paranormal investigation as a documentary and narrative practice, the module examines how the genre functions across media (particularly television, podcasts, and documentary film) and how it intersects with questions of belief, storytelling, evidence, and place.

Through a site-based paranormal investigation on the Queens College campus, students will engage directly with the conventions and techniques used in nonfiction media to construct truth-claims, stage suspense, and shape narrative authority. Students will document, interpret, and reflect on their …

Local And Community History – Ten Blocks, Johnathan Thayer

Open Educational Resources

Description

Walk or otherwise move through physical space ten blocks (or its equivalent) in any direction from wherever you call home. Take note of the component parts that make up your locality, including the weekly topics on our syllabus (nature, parks, cemeteries, burial grounds, buildings, restaurants, bars, theaters, temples, schools, and governance). Make a list of the histories of these components that you know, and a list of the histories that you wish you knew more about.

Where I plan to use this resource

In my LBSCI class Local and Community History Methods. This will be the first assignment of …

Evaluating Policy And Industry-Based Interventions For Healthier Online Food-Away-From-Home Choices: A Scoping Review, Vincenzina Caputo, Jiayu Sun, Ellen J. Van Loo

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

The rapid digital transformation of the food-away-from-home (FAFH) sector has redefined how consumers access and select meals. Digital delivery platforms such as Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Meituan have become influential market intermediaries, shaping the nutritional landscape of food environments and raising concerns about their healthfulness. This study reviews empirical evidence on policy-based and industry-led interventions aimed at improving dietary outcomes in digital FAFH environments. Following PRISMA guidelines and using machine-learning–assisted screening (ASReview), 37 peer-reviewed studies were identified across four domains: nutritional labeling, fiscal measures, food-assistance programs, and digital nudges or decision-support tools. Findings indicate that although traditional food-policy instruments designed …

Dimensions Of Queens Culture / The Personality Of Queens, Claudia Brumbaugh

Open Educational Resources

1. Description of the resource: This assignment will be given early in the semester, and will be due near the end of the semester, scaffolded into steps over the semester:
   1. Via descriptive writing, define one of five, cultural dimensions / Big 5 traits. Then, define the dimension / trait in terms of the local conditions in Queens (e.g., what it means more specifically in the context of Queens).* You can pick the level of analysis for “Queens”. It could be QC, or neighborhood, or the entire borough. Next, place your level of Queens analysis into historical context, describing past movements/events, and …

Synergistic Doping And Coating Strategy For Boosting Na0.7mno2 Cathode Performance In Sodium-Ion Batteries, Ahmad Helaley, Han Yu, Manashi Nath, Xinhua Liang

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Advancing sodium-ion battery (SIB) technology requires novel approaches to optimize cathode materials for improved electrochemical performance. In this study, we employ atomic layer deposition (ALD) to precisely modify the surface of P2-type Na_0.7MnO₂ cathodes with different coating materials including ZnO, NiO, and Al₂O₃, followed by post-annealing at 750°C for 10 hours. The strategic combination of ALD and thermal treatment can achieve thin film coating on particle surface and promote element doping into the near-surface lattice, as confirmed by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) analysis. The incorporation of Zn, Al, and Ni results in …

Unraveling Hydration- And Temperature-Induced Structural Transformations Of Linear Poly(Ethylenimine) Using Raman Microscopy And Numerical Unmixing, Miharu Koh, Jay P. Kitt, Andrew D. Pendergast, Joel M. Harris, Shelley D. Minteer, Carol Korzeniewski

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Linear poly(ethylenimine) (LPEI) is a hydration-sensitive polymer of interest for its breadth of application in areas that include medicine, energy, and materials science. To facilitate advances, this work demonstrates in situ Raman microscopy and self-modeling curve resolution (SMCR) analysis as an approach for investigating changes in LPEI structure during melting and crystallization under controlled heating and cooling conditions. With focus on neutral (freebase) LPEI, SMCR analysis of Raman data sets showed that the melting transition of anhydrous LPEI was well described by a pair of spectral vectors representing anhydrous crystalline and amorphous states. However, the transition from the melted to …

The Cowl - V. 89 N. 9 - November 20, 2025

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 89 No. 9 - November 20, 2025. 24 pages.

Virtual Reality In Esl Teaching And Learning In A Hybrid Learning Environment In The Uae, Basma Abdulla Abri

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

This study investigates the impact of Virtual Reality (VR) on the oral proficiency of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It also explores the perceptions of students and their instructor regarding the use of VR as a tool for language learning. The research was conducted in an English Communications program at a higher education institution in the UAE, with 44 Emirati students divided into a control group and an experimental group. The control group practiced speaking using traditional classroom methods, while the experimental group engaged in communicative activities through VR environments. A mixed-methods …