Digital Commons Network^™

Ai & Chemistry, Evelina Jaleniauskiene

Teaching Repository of AI-Infused Learning

"AI & Chemistry" is a four-week language-learning project based on the action-oriented approach. The project asks students to complete two main tasks: prepare an individual Ignite talk and a partnered podcast on any subtopic related to the use of AI in chemistry. Beyond language skills, the project additionally aims to encourage students’ collaboration with AI-powered tools and enhance their AI literacy. All project steps are detailed in an additional PDF file. The integration of the project is not restricted to a language course; it can be adapted for any university-level communicative course.

The Under-Prosecution Of White-Collar Crime, Joseph Whalen

Honors Program

White-collar crime comprises nonviolent, financially motivated offenses by individuals and corporate entities. The social costs are immense, yet the prosecution of such crimes is comparatively small compared to other forms of non-violent crime, often resolving with opaque settlements rather than prosecution. This study examines why under-prosecution is so prevalent in white-collar crime, how it undermines democratic trust, and what reforms could be implemented to improve accountability. Under-prosecution will be operationalized through a mixed-methods design, accounting for the most observable proxies. First, the share of filings involving white-collar offenses; second, the prevalence of deferred or non-prosecution agreements (hereinafter referred to as …

Performance Of Adaptive Wingtips On A Tailless Supersonic Business Jet, Khushi Piparava

2025 Fall Honors Capstones Projects - Archive

The growing interest in supersonic business travel has renewed focus on efficient, low-drag configurations that can achieve high performance while maintaining stability and structural integrity. This research investigates the aerodynamic and structural implications of adaptive folding wingtips on a tailless supersonic business jet (SBJ) concept designed under the SkyBreaker senior design program. Using a conceptual aerodynamic model based on linearized supersonic theory, the Polhamus leading-edge suction analogy, and an empirical compression-lift correlation, the study evaluates how varying wingtip droop angles influence lift, drag, lift-to-drag ratio (L/D), and static stability. The analysis was performed parametrically in MATLAB, using geometry inputs derived …

My First Conversation With Chatgpt (February 22, 2023): Origins Of A Generative Dialogue, David Smith

Publications and Research

This working paper presents the first recorded interaction between the author and the generative AI system ChatGPT, written on February 22, 2023 during the initial weeks of a faculty sabbatical in Boston. The document preserves a complete and unedited transcript of an exploratory conversation conducted without predetermined research aims, marking the author’s first encounter with a large-language-model conversational interface. Although the exchange includes creative experimentation—including musical and poetic prompts—the discussion remains informal and wide-ranging, and no theoretical framework is articulated at this stage. Rather, this transcript is published as primary-source material documenting the moment of discovery and experimentation that precedes …

Exploring The Potential Of Artificial Intelligence To Improve The Journal Peer Review Process, Eliza Fanny Bondah

Theses and Dissertations

Academic publishing depends on the peer review process to guarantee quality, scholarly rigor, and credibility, but the traditional peer review system receives mounting criticism because of its inefficient operations, biased judgments, and irregular standards. This study explores how artificial intelligence (AI) can improve journal peer review systems to solve a variety of issues, including reducing reviewer exhaustion, minimizing bias, improving consistency, and accelerating the review process. Current literature shows AI as a promising yet controversial solution, which may provide structured feedback with improved consistency and efficiency. Our study examined 52 human reviews together with 26 AI-generated reviews from EdTechnica--An Open …

Bayesian Alignment Prior To Connectionist Temporal Classification Loss, Lawry Sorenson

Theses and Dissertations

We propose revisions of Connectionist Temporal Classification (CTC) loss and forced alignment to support longer input sequences. CTC loss is normally used for training in speech and handwriting recognition tasks when the labels are not fully aligned with the data, while forced alignment is a downstream task that finds the optimal path for segmentation purposes. The current implementations consider all possible alignments between the input and label, which grows exponentially with the size of the input. We show that in cases when silence is removed and speaking rate is consistent, the true alignment is a mostly straight line across time …

Commutative Schur Rings Over Characteristic 2 Special Orthogonal Groups, Andrew Haviland

Theses and Dissertations

We study commutative Schur rings over the special orthogonal groups $\mathrm{SO}^{\pm}(n,2)$ that contain the class $\mathcal{C}$ of transvections. We show that the partition of $\mathcal{C}$ determined by a commutative Schur ring has either one or two parts. We classify all remaining partitions of $\mathcal{C}$ that could be determined by a commutative Schur ring.

Elevated Lactate In Aml Bone Marrow Contributes To Macrophage Polarization Via Gpr81 Signaling., Celia A Soto, Maggie L Lesch, Jennifer L Becker, Azmeer Sharipol, Amal Khan, Xenia L Schafer, Zhewen Li, Amanda R Streeter, Michael W Becker, Joshua C Munger, Benjamin J Frisch

Oncology Articles

Interactions between acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and the bone marrow microenvironment (BMME) are critical to leukemia progression and chemoresistance. In the solid tumor microenvironment, altered metabolite levels contribute to cancer progression. We performed a metabolomic analysis of AML patient bone marrow serum, revealing increased metabolites compared to age- and sex-matched controls. The most highly elevated metabolite in the AML BMME was lactate. Lactate signaling in solid tumors induces immunosuppressive tumor-associated macrophages and correlates with poor prognosis. This has not yet been studied in the leukemic BMME. Herein, we describe the role of lactate in the polarization of leukemia-associated macrophages (LAMs). …

Writing The Community: How Christian Texts Construct Belief, Belonging, And Identity, Emma Rodgers

Student Work

This project investigates how the Christian church community functions as a discourse community through its writing practices— its liturgies, sermons, governance documents, and everyday texts such as newsletters.

Empowering Digital Fluency: A Course-Based Strategy For Practical Ai Tool Integration In Higher Education, Melissa J. Brooks

Teaching Repository of AI-Infused Learning

This course was designed to introduce students to a range of AI tools while enabling hands-on experience in their practical application. Students were required to explore multiple AI tools across domains such as content generation, data visualization, video production, note-taking, and accessibility. The course culminated in a final project where students selected and applied an AI tool (or set of tools) to create a resume, a cover letter, and a presentation about themselves and how they anticipate the use of AI in their chosen Industry. Tools recommended were Jenni.AI, ChatGPT, Slide bean, Canva, Grammarly, Gamma, Synthesia.AI, and Perplexity, Otter.AI. One …

Helping Students Build Artificial Intelligence Literacy Skills By Applying Leadership Theories To Their Career Development, Anthony Edwards

Teaching Repository of AI-Infused Learning

In this article, the author describes an assignment where master’s level higher education leadership students use AI to determine how leadership theories and concepts can help them in their careers and evaluate the response.

From Myths To Mastery: A Progressive Ai Literacy Course Using The Clear Framework And Authentic Problem-Solving, Laura J. Mcneill, Sierra Cantrell

Teaching Repository of AI-Infused Learning

"Digital Minds: Your AI Adventure Begins" employs a 14-week progressive scaffolding approach that transforms freshman students from passive AI consumers into critical collaborators through weekly hands-on experiments with tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Adobe Firefly. Each week features structured "AI Questions" that connect course concepts to students' lived experiences, combined with practical activities like creating Gemini GEMS projects that encourage students to investigate AI myths and cross-reference external sources in real-time. The course culminates in collaborative AI-human projects addressing real community problems, with ongoing peer evaluation and reflection that emphasizes critical thinking and ethical reasoning over technical outputs.

From The Margins To The Center: The Transformative Promise Of Philosophy For Children, Maughn Rollins Gregory, Megan Jane Laverty, Joe Oyler

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

What began as an innovative idea in the late 1960s—the recognition that even very young children are philosophically disposed—is no longer considered novel. While philosophy for children has transitioned from a fledgling initiative to a worldwide movement, it remains on the margins of education. In this article, we look back at key initiatives that have advanced its growth before looking ahead to what can move philosophy for children to the center of education. We consider the introduction and development of materials that invite children into philosophical spaces, the community of philosophical inquiry as a model of teachers' and children's philosophical …

Ai And Racism: 6 Reasons Black People Need Digital Literacy, Brianna A. Baker

Publications and Research

Key Points

• AI often reflects racial bias in its training data, which can distort how Black people are represented.
• Psychological stress increases when digital tools misunderstand or misinterpret Black experiences.
• Digital literacy strengthens emotional wellbeing by helping users recognize and counter biased outputs.

Liahona Project Data Set 5 Up To 2025, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Spiritual Proficiency

This document is a collection of highlights extracted from more than 800 articles from the Japanese online Liahona magazines, spanning from the beginning of 2024 to the end of 2025. Each article was individually checked to extract inspirational principles and highlights from personal experiences, serving as a resource to develop Spiritual Proficiency and build the foundation for Wits Psychology (With the Spirit Psychology). The document is 61pages long.

Geoscience Letters: From Founding Vision To Shaping The Future Of Geoscience, James Terry, Cheng‐Ku Yu

All Works

No abstract provided.

Rare Epigenetic Alterations Are Conserved Across Hematopoietic Differentiation Stages After Mycobacterial Infection, Brandon T Tran, Pamela N Luna, Ruoqiong Cao, Duy T Le, Apoorva Thatavarty, Laure Maneix, Bailee N Kain, Scott Koh, Andre Catic, Katherine Y King

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Infection leads to durable cell-autonomous changes in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), resulting in production of innate immune cells with heightened immunity. The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, termed central trained immunity, remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that infection induces histone modifications leading to changes in chromatin accessibility that are conserved during differentiation from HSPCs to myeloid progenitors and monocytes. We conducted genome-wide surveillance of histone marks H3K27ac and H3K4me3 and chromatin accessibility in hematopoietic stem cells, multipotent progenitor 3, granulocyte-monocyte progenitors, monocytes and macrophages of naïve and Mycobacterium avium infected mice. Interferon signaling pathways and related transcription factor binding …

Dairy And Food Science Student Newsletter, December 9, 2025, Department Of Dairy And Food Science

Dairy and Food Science Student Newsletter

No abstract provided.

I Can’T Believe It’S Not Social: Investigating The Relationship Between Loneliness, Parasocial Relationships, And Potential Moderators, Hannah I. Suozzi

Master's Theses

Increased loneliness trends coincide with increased media use. Media is turned to as a source of comfort and distraction from the real world. There is cause to believe that people also use media as a way to form parasocial relationships (PSRs), one-sided relationships audiences form with media figures (i.e., celebrities, influencers, and fictional characters). The connection between loneliness and PSR is thought to be moderated by social vulnerability, particularly the need to belong (NTB) and ethnicity. The medium from which PSRs originate lacks empirical study. To address the limitations, this study analyzed data collected from San Jose State University students …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Copper Nanoparticles: A Laboratory Experiment For Undergraduate Physical Chemistry, Jonathan Batey, Deborah Okyere, Sarah York, Feng Wang, Jingy Chen

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nonprecious metal nanoparticles have been the subject of intensive research, due to their potential applications in promoting sustainability. This integrated laboratory experiment is designed to provide undergraduate students with hands-on experience in synthesizing and characterizing nonprecious metal nanoparticles, specifically copper nanoparticles. The experiment consists of three sections, each tailored to teach a unique aspect of nanochemistry. Section 1 focuses on the air-free synthesis of copper nanoparticles using a solution-based method with an emphasis on understanding their plasmonic properties and how oxidation impacts them. Section 2 explores the quantitative analysis of copper, where students apply crystal field theory to understand the …

Running From The Headlines: Evaluating Levels Of News Consumption Attitudes Across Generations, Andrew Francis

Honors Theses

The primary goal of this research is to answer the question "What behavioral trends exist across various generations and other demographics when it comes to how people consume and interact with news coverage?" With newspapers and other traditional mediums for news consumption being largely phased out of our increasingly digital society, it is important for communicators and journalists to have a comprehensive understanding of how to best reach members of their desired audience. I have studied the data collected and analyzed what trends are apparent in the survey's sample size, which can hopefully be applied to the larger population. To …

An Exploratory Evaluation Of The Kalamazoo River Watershed Council: Assessing Organizational Impact And Value, Alexander Mendez

Honors Theses

The Kalamazoo River Watershed Council (KRWC) plays a central role in protecting, restoring, and promoting the long-term health of the Kalamazoo River watershed, a geographically expansive and ecologically complex system facing persistent challenges from legacy contamination, nonpoint source pollution, land-use pressures, and inequitable access to watershed resources. This honors thesis presents an exploratory organizational evaluation of the KRWC, assessing its role and relevance within the watershed, the effectiveness of its programs and partnerships, the strengths and limitations of its governance structure, and opportunities to strengthen its long-term sustainability and impact.

Guided by principles of Practical Participatory Evaluation (PP-E) and Fourth …

In Their Own Voice: A Grounded Theory On Overcoming Internet Gaming Disorder, Jayson Carmona

Theses and Dissertations

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is highly comorbid with depression, anxiety, sleep loss, lower productivity, and social isolation. The DSM-5 TR designates IGD as a condition for further study, however the ICD-11 has designed Gaming Disorder as a codified illness. While most studies look at IGD via a medical model lens focusing almost exclusively on symptomology, very little research explores the process of recovery in IGD. In this grounded theory inquiry, a theory of recovery from IGD is generated. Secondary internet data consisted of 113 posts on the subreddit /r/StopGaming on reddit.com. This resulted in 196 pages of data. Researcher used …

Adolescent Children’S Risk Of Long Covid-19 Syndrome Based On Diet And Demographic Factors From An Online Survey, Christopher Waskewich

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Limited information is available on how coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has [JG1] affected adolescents regarding long-term health risks. This quantitative study focused on the effect of U.S. adolescents’ daily diet, race/ethnicity, levels of income, family level of education, access to health care, age, and comorbidities on the risks of long COVID-19 syndrome. I used the constructs of the health belief model to understand the impact of those variables. The online survey results (N = 298) found that adolescents whose daily vegetable consumption was more than daily recommendations (2–3 cups) had a lower odds ratio of having long COVID-19 syndrome …

Commedia Accademica: An Autoethnographic Trajectory Of The Metacognitive Awakening And Critical Consciousness Development Of An Afro-Belizean American Male Math Teacher, Jason Garcia

LMU Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT Commedia Accademica: An Autoethnographic Trajectory of the Metacognitive Awakening and Critical Consciousness Development of an Afro-Belizean American Male Math Teacher by Jason Gregory Garcia The current autoethnography involved an epic poetic approach that sought to dismantle and disrupt an intricate network of the school-to-prison pipeline (McCarter, 2017) paradigms designed to subjugate African American male pupils in dysfunctional educational contexts. R. S. Smith (2025) stated, “Autoethnographies can use alternate forms of representation. . . . Because the study was an autoethnography, my reality, as researcher-participant, is seen through a unique window to the world” (p. 22). The literature suggests implementing …

Evaluating The Impact Of Educational Materials On Mental Health Using Smartphones, Christine L. Hober

Biennial Convention (CONV)

The purpose of this quality improvement project is to explore the impact of smartphone use on mental health issues and evaluate the effectiveness of educational emails with infographics designed to manage smartphone-related issues.

Specifically, the study aims to determine how different levels of smartphone engagement influence the mental health outcomes of sleep disturbances, anxiety, headaches, depression and overall well-being in adult women.

The background for this study is rooted in existing research that links excessive smartphone use to negative mental health outcomes, such as increased anxiety and depression (Twenge & Campbell, 2018). Despite growing concerns about these impacts, there is …

Exploring The Role Of Human Pioneer Factors On Hiv Transcription Through Rna Interference Screening, Zachary Comella

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2020 - Present

Per the World Health Organization, approximately 40 million individuals live with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) worldwide. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) against HIV limits viral replication but does not eradicate the virus. This is mainly due to the presence of long lived CD4+ T cells harboring transcriptionally silenced integrated proviruses, hidden from the immune system, which are, however, ready to reinitiate a spreading infection as soon as treatment is interrupted. To develop novel strategies to block virus reactivation without treatment, a deep understanding of host factors contributing to HIV transcriptional regulation is needed. Pioneer factors (PFs) are a unique type of …

Analysis Of Source–Sink Organ Dynamics In Kaffir Lime (Citrus Hystrix Dc.) At Different Plant Ages, Siti Auliya Rahma, Rahmat Budiarto, Syariful Mubarok

Jurnal Kultivasi

Kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix DC.) is a leafy spice commodity widely used as a culinary ingredient, in bio-pharmaceuticals, and as a raw material for essential oil production. Despite its high demand, leaf productivity remains relatively low, highlighting the need for improved cultivation practices. A better understanding of source–sink dynamics is essential, as leaf production is strongly influenced by the balance between assimilate-producing and assimilate-consuming organs. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the source-sink capacity of kaffir lime plants of different ages as a preliminary step toward identifying cultivation strategies to enhance leaf production. The experiment was conducted at Bale Tatanen …

Comparative Analysis Of Color, Texture, And Water Content In Three Shallot Cultivars At Different Harvest Ages, Rahma Wati Lestari, Kusumiyati, Syariful Mubarok

Jurnal Kultivasi

Shallots are a major horticultural commodity with high economic value. The quality of shallots is determined not only by the quantity of the harvest but also by physical characteristics such as bulb color, texture, and water content. This study aims to evaluate the differences in these physical parameters in three popular local cultivars: Brebes, Sumenep, and Tuktuk, harvested at 56, 63, and 70 days after planting (DAP), respectively. This research uses a Randomized Block Design consisting of 9 treatment combinations and analyzed using the SmartstatXL application. Color measurements are conducted using the CIELAB method and converted to CIELCH and RGB …

Role Of Nano Edible Coating, Packaging, And Storage Temperature In Maintaining Color, Moisture Content, And Phenolic Compounds Of Straw Mushroom, Kiki Nuratni Sitompul, Syariful Mubarok, Kusumiyati

Jurnal Kultivasi

Straw mushrooms are among the most sought-after edible mushrooms, but their harvest is highly perishable due to their high respiration and transpiration rates, leading to a decline in quality during storage. The application of nano edible coating can cover the surface of straw mushrooms and maintain their freshness, while packaging and storage at low temperatures can maintain quality by inhibiting respiration and enzymatic activity. This study aims to evaluate the effects of nano edible coating, packaging types, and different storage temperatures on the color, moisture content, and phenolic compounds of straw mushrooms. The study was conducted at the Horticulture Laboratory, …