Digital Commons Network^™

Rapid Microbial Activity In Marine Sediments Significantly Enhances Silica Cycling Rates Compared To Abiotic Processes, Panagiotis Michalopoulos, Jeffrey W. Krause, Rebecca A. Pickering, Eleni Rousselaki, Kanchan Maiti, Martial Taillefert, Christophe Rabouille, Rudolph Corvaisier

Faculty Publications

Silicon, earth’s second most abundant element, cycles via biogeochemical processes in terrestrial and oceanic environments. The marine sediment-water interface is thought to divide biological-dominated (water) from abiotic-dominated (sediment) silica cycling processes. Studies indicate marine extremophile bacteria induce silica precipitation, but the quantitative importance of microorganisms in broader sediment silica cycling remains unexplored. We hypothesize that microorganisms significantly influence sediment silica cycling, challenging the prevailing divide of microbial importance. Within hours, sediment microbes expedited silica sequestration through rapid coupled dissolution/reprecipitation processes in marine deltaic sediment experiments. Using radiotracer silicon-32, we reveal that microbial mediation enhanced silica uptake, surpassing abiotic uptake by …

Elucidating The Role Of Marine Benthic Carbon In A Changing World, Cristina Schultz, Jessica Y. Luo, Damian C. Brady, Robinson W. Fulweiler, Matthew H. Long, Colleen M. Petrik, Jeremy M. Testa, Heather M. Benway, David Burdige, Marta M. Cecchetto, Isa Elegbede, Natalya Evans, Alexandra Frenzel, Kayla Gillen, Lisa C. Herbert, Heidi K. Hirsh, Gennadi Lessin, Lisa Levin, Kanchan Maiti, Sairah Malkin, Sarah L. Mincks, Stanley Nmor, Anh Pham, James Pinckney, Christophe Rabouille, Shaily Rahman, Subhadeep Rakshit, Nicholas E. Ray, Dalton K. Sasaki, Samantha A. Siedlecki, Christopher Somes, Aron Stubbins, Olivier Sulpis

Faculty Publications

The ocean plays a major role in controlling atmospheric carbon at decadal to millennial timescales, with benthic carbon representing the only geologic-scale storage of oceanic carbon. Despite its importance, detailed benthic ocean observations are limited and representation of the benthic carbon cycle in ocean and Earth system models (ESMs) is mostly empirical with little prognostic capacity, which hinders our ability to properly understand the long-term evolution of the carbon cycle and climate change-related feedbacks. The Benthic Ecosystem and Carbon Synthesis (BECS) working group, with the support of the US Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Program (OCB), identified key challenges limiting our …

Integrating Human And Natural Systems From A Global Systems Perspective, John W. Day, William H. Conner, Katherine C. Ewel, Rachael Hunter, G. Paul Kemp, Robert Lane, Jay Martin, William Mitsch, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, John Rybczyk

Faculty Publications

During his long career, Howard Odum focused on both conceptual and theoretical issues such as maximum power and the development of energy circuit language as well as ecosystem-level studies of natural systems and human interactions with these systems. He and colleagues carried out large macrocosm studies on a variety of ecosystems. We review here studies initiated by Howard Odum as well as whole system studies carried out by a number of post docs, his students and their students. We focus on studies involving John Day, Katherine Ewel, and William Mitsch. Ewel and Mitsch worked on fertilized cypress systems in Florida. …

Hurricanes And Human Health In Louisiana: Insights From Hurricanes Laura, Delta, And Ida, Shobha Kumari Yadav, Robert V. Rohli, M. E. Betsy Garrison, Elisabeth Ponce-Garcia, Nazla Bushra, Charleen Mcneill

Faculty Publications

Louisiana is one of the most disaster-prone states, with hurricanes ranking among the most destructive hazards. Hurricanes impede sustainability by straining hospital infrastructure, overwhelming emergency departments, and disrupting continuity of care. Louisiana’s healthcare system, characterized by high uninsured rates, limited rural access, and notable racial and socioeconomic disparities, is particularly vulnerable during disasters. This research explores trends of mental and respiratory health in Louisiana surrounding Hurricanes Laura (2020), Delta (2020), and Ida (2021). Analysis reveals a substantial increase in admissions after landfall of all three storms, with mental health conditions showing a larger surge than respiratory ones in already-vulnerable communities. …

Ocean–Atmosphere–Land Interactions And Their Roles In Climate Change, Biyun Guo, Chunyan Li

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Wide Nets, Heavy Burdens: Unpacking Executive Order 14105’S Final Rule, Breanna Li

UC Law Journal

Executive Order 14105 “Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern” was enacted to protect U.S. national security interests in light of China’s military technological growth. This Executive Order creates an outbound investment review program that restricts investments by a U.S. person into companies in specified countries operating in certain technology sectors. This Note will discuss the background of geopolitical tensions between the United States and China, review E.O. 14105, and argue that the program it creates results in burdensome unintended consequences to the U.S. economy. These unintended circumstances include: (1) high regulatory …

Religious Freedom & The Fertilized Egg, Rabea Benhalim

UC Law Journal

Anti-abortion activism and litigation have challenged established caselaw on the legality of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the legal treatment of IVF fertilized eggs. These challenges rely on conservative Christian ideologies that full personhood occurs at fertilization. Litigation has primarily arisen out of wrongful death suits and divorce proceedings, wherein a party either has destroyed or seeks to dispose of frozen blastocysts. Some legislatures now seek to regulate the treatment of IVF fertilized eggs vis-á-vis legislation, as politicians increasingly seek to ban any destruction of human fertilized eggs by legally defining human life as beginning at fertilization. However, the question …

Health Care Civil Rights: Addressing The American Maternal Mortality Disparity Through Health, Law, And Policy, Victoria Pedri

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The United States is facing a pressing issue in maternal health, standing out as uniquely dangerous among similarly situated nations, with significant disparities in maternal mortality rates, particularly affecting Black American pregnant people. This paper, “Health Care Civil Rights: Addressing the American Maternal Mortality Disparity Through Health, Law, and Policy,” argues that by addressing the root cause of the Black Maternal Mortality Disparity (BMMD)—structural racism—and implementing rigorous, enforced standards of care, the United States can ensure safer childbirth experiences for Black pregnant people. Utilizing intersectional and anti-racist frameworks, the analysis identifies inferior medical care, particularly in diagnosing and treating preventable …

Teaching Leadership In The Context Of Crisis: Connecting Organizational Leadership And Crisis Competencies In A Faculty Leadership Education Program, Caitlin Lunzmann, Nicole Lamee Perez Stedman, Matthew Sowcik

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

This research focused on enhancing leadership instruction in colleges of agriculture. A multi-institutional research team initiated a program to teach agricultural and natural resource faculty how to create leadership-oriented case studies for undergraduates. Forty faculty members participated in an online training academy centered on Bolman and Deal’s Organizational Frames and case study writing. Following the academy, these faculty members participated in field experiences in the southeastern U.S. to gather data on natural disasters, which they used to write case studies about leadership in agriculture. Though the program focused on organizational leadership, it also discussed leadership in the context of natural …

Dei And The Servant-Leader, Carmen Dela Cruz

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

After the June 2023 Supreme Court decision eliminating race as a consideration in college admissions, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in higher education became a target. As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, some states began closing or renaming their DEI offices even before President Trump’s reelection. Since President Trump began his second term, his administration has made dismantling DEI initiatives a top priority. So, now is a crucial time to continue the work of civil rights and social justice in the United States. It is essential that we have leaders that are willing to carry out DEI …

The Role Of Servant-Leadership And Employee Work Engagement On Employee Innovative Work Behaviour: An Emerging Economy Perspective, S. M. Ashik Hossain, Muhammad Abdul Aziz

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

This study investigates the impact of servant-leadership (SL) and employee work engagement (EWE) on the innovative work behaviour (IWB) of the professionals in a developing country’s perspective. Besides, the mediation impact of EWE between the SL and IWB link has been assessed that created unique contribution to the literature. This quantitative research utilized cross-sectional survey design where data has been collected using both paper based and online survey. Using structured questionnaire, we collected responses from 215 professionals from manufacturing and service sectors who are working at mid-levels and semi-mid-levels positions in different organizations in Bangladesh. The descriptive analysis and normality …

Wofford Today Winter 2025, Wofford College. Office Of Marketing And Communications

Wofford Today

No abstract provided.

From Static Prediction To Mindful Machines: A Paradigm Shift In Distributed Ai Systems, Rao Mikkilineni, W. Patrick Kelly

Barowsky School of Business | Faculty Scholarship

A special class of complex adaptive systems—biological and social—thrive not by passively accumulating patterns, but by engineering coherence, i.e., the deliberate alignment of prior knowledge, real-time updates, and teleonomic purposes. By contrast, today’s AI stacks—Large Language Models (LLMs) wrapped in agentic toolchains—remain rooted in a Turing-paradigm architecture: statistical world models (opaque weights) bolted onto brittle, imperative workflows. They excel at pattern completion, but they externalize governance, memory, and purpose, thereby accumulating coherence debt—a structural fragility manifested as hallucinations, shallow and siloed memory, ad hoc guardrails, and costly human oversight. The shortcoming of current AI relative to human-like intelligence is therefore …

Additive Manufacturing Of Carbons From Commodity Polyolefins, Paul Smith

Dissertations

Though tremendous progress has been made engineering carbon materials across length-scales from the molecular to the macroscopic, on-demand macro-structural control of carbons is still developing. Many carbon materials like graphene, carbon nanotubes, activated carbons, and carbon fibers have powder or fiber form factors. Recent research has pioneered on-demand carbon production through additive manufacturing (AM) via 1) extrusion and post-processing of highly filled carbon slurries, or 2) printing and pyrolysis of polymeric carbon precursors such as polyimides, acrylated polyethylene glycol, and phenolics. While groundbreaking, most methods face challenges with adoption due to costly/complex materials and manufacturing processes, and large dimensional changes …

The Price Of Priorities: How Human Choices Fuel Climate And Ecological Decline, Keisha Hickman

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the ways in which human priorities and behaviors contribute to the escalating climate crisis and ecological systems. We will first analyze the role of social media in shaping public discourse on climate change and critically evaluate the priorities of institutions that have the means to assist in wildlife conservation. Both speak to the current behaviors of humankind prioritizing their own entertainment over meaningful efforts to mitigate climate change and preserve biodiversity. We will then shift to exploring the profound impact of human population growth and its associated activities on other species and ecosystems. Finally, the thesis will …

Enhancing Facial Expressiveness For Games Through Procedural Animation, Abhijit Varanasi

All Theses

Facial animation is one of the most important parts of bringing characters to life in video games and virtual experiences. This thesis explores a new approach to creating more expressive facial animations using procedural techniques and blended facial performance for more flexibility. The project uses FACS (Facial Action Coding System), which breaks down facial expressions into small, measurable muscle movements. By building a facial rig based on these muscle units, the character’s face can be animated in a way that reflects real human emotion. The animation in this work is not just pre-recorded, though it can respond in real-time to …

A Mixed-Methods Design-Based Research: Study Of Teacher Self-Efficacy And The Implementation Of Social Emotional Learning In The High School Classroom, Avia Brown

Dissertations

The escalating mental health crisis among adolescents, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, positioned schools as critical intervention sites for supporting student well-being (K. McNamara, 2020). However, teacher capacity and self-efficacy in implementing social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies remain significant barriers to effective, sustainable practice. This mixed-methods design-based research study examined the efficacy of professional development and instructional coaching in enhancing teacher self-efficacy and supporting the implementation of SEL competencies in high school classrooms.

The researcher employed a comprehensive, five-stage design thinking framework (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test) to develop and evaluate a structured eight-week professional development and coaching intervention targeting SEL …

Full Issue, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

The Path To Better Always Requires Something Different, An Nguyen Dds, Mph

Metro Denver Dental Society Articulator Magazine

Dr. An Nguyen examines dentistry’s shift toward the Complete Health Era, where oral health is fully integrated into chronic disease management and whole-body wellness. She outlines the interdisciplinary skills, including medical mindset, behavioral science, quality improvement and meaningful measurement, needed for dental teams to thrive in this new landscape. The article makes a compelling call for embracing fresh approaches, partnerships and mindsets to advance dentistry’s role in comprehensive health care.

A Change In Practice: Improving Uti Management In A Long-Term Care Facility By Implementing Rapid Urinary Culture Collection Protocols To Enhance Timely Treatment And Reduce Hospitalizations, Tania Ojeda

Doctor of Nursing Practice

ABSTRACT

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) remain a leading cause of morbidity among elderly residents in long-term care facilities, where diagnosis is frequently delayed due to atypical presentation, cognitive impairment, and inconsistent urine specimen handling. Purpose: This quality improvement (QI) project aimed to improve the timeliness and accuracy of UTI management in a memory care facility through standardized evidence-based protocols. Objectives: The project sought to ensure that: (a) 100% of staff would be educated on the protocol; (b) 100% of residents with suspected UTIs would have urine sent for urinalysis and culture within 8 hours of symptom onset; (c) 100% …

Impact Of Rendering Wastewater Variability On Electrocoagulation - Electroflotation, Katie L. Hardison

All Theses

Rendering is a resource recovery technique commonly utilized to recover fats and proteins from unused animal parts discarded during meat processing and slaughter. Resource recovery involves converting waste products into valuable products. Rendering generates large volumes of heavily polluted wastewater. Pollutant concentrations can vary significantly, although rendering wastewater (RW) has extremely high concentrations of fats, oils, and greases (FOG). To remove pollutants, first chemicals called coagulants are added to RW to encourage pollutants to clump together to form flocs. The flocs are then floated to the surface and removed through the addition of air in a process called dissolved air …

El Poder Del Bilingüismo Y La Ciencia, Isabella Winslow

World Languages and Cultures

This project is an explanation of the importance of bilingualism, science, and our responsibility as humans within this environment. As living beings on this planet, we have a responsibility to respect and protect it. Over the course of the last several hundred years, we humans have made countless advancements. We have created unimaginable technology and discovered incredible resources produced by the land. However, in the process of doing so, we have damaged and continue to damage our environment. Reefs in the ocean have been bleached by increases in acidity, thousand year old glaciers have melted, forests have been destroyed by …

Implementing Pain Curricula In Prelicensure Physical Therapy Education: Faculty Perspectives And Experiences, John D. Kiesel

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The impact of pain on society has implications for individuals’ well-being and the overall health of society. Despite the high prevalence of pain, many new healthcare providers often lack the confidence and skills to manage patients with pain effectively. This phenomenological research study aimed to understand the lived experiences of faculty responsible for developing and delivering pain education to prelicensure physical therapy students. A secondary purpose was to examine the barriers that exist from the perspective of faculty members with subject matter expertise in pain education to implementing effective pain education in prelicensure curricula. Prelicensure pain education is essential for …

Onset Of Strong Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water 3.6 Million Years Ago, Matthias Sinnesael, Boris Theofanis Karatsolis, Paul N. Pearson, Anne Briais, Sidney R. Hemming, Leah J. Levay, Tom Dunkley Jones, Ying Cui, Anita Di Chiara, Justin P. Dodd, Deepa Dwyer, Deborah E. Eason, Sarah A. Friedman, Emma Hanson, Katharina Hochmuth, Halima E. Ibrahim, Claire E. Jasper, Saran Lee-Takeda, Danielle E. Leblanc, Melody R. Lindsay, David D. Mcnamara, Sevasti E. Modestou, Margaret A. Morris, Bramley J. Murton, Suzanne Oconnell, Gabriel Pasquet, Sheng Ping Qian, Yair Rosenthal, Sara Satolli, Takuma Suzuki, Thena Thulasi, Bridget S. Wade

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), the return flow component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), is a major inter-hemispheric ocean water mass with strong climate effects but the evolution of its source components on million-year timescales is poorly known. Today, two major NADW components that flow southward over volcanic ridges to the east and west of Iceland are associated with distinct contourite drift systems that are forming off the coast of Greenland and on the eastern flank of the Reykjanes (mid-Atlantic) Ridge. Here we provide direct records of the early history of this drift sedimentation based on cores collected …

Millennial-Timescale Thermogenic Co2 Release Preceding The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Shijun Jiang, Ying Cui, Yasu Wang, Maurizia De Palma, B. David A. Naafs, Jingxin Jiang, Xiumian Hu, Huaichun Wu, Runjian Chu, Yangguang Gu, Jiuyuan Wang, Yizhou Huang, Miquela Ingalls, Timothy J. Bralower, Shiling Yang, James C. Zachos, Andy Ridgwell

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Geologic records support a short-lived carbon release, known as the pre-onset excursion (POE), shortly before the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; ~ 56 Ma). However, the source and pace of the POE carbon release and its relationship to the PETM remain unresolved. Here we show a high-temporal-resolution stratigraphic record spanning the POE and PETM from the eastern Tethys Ocean that documents the evolution of surface ocean carbon cycle, redox and eutrophication, confirming the global nature of the POE. Biomarkers extracted from the sedimentary record indicate a smaller environmental perturbation during the POE than that during the PETM in the eastern Tethys …

Comparing Profiles Of Impairment Among Children With Dmdd, Adhd, And Odd, Joanna Christmas

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) has a high comorbidity rate with ADHD (Bruno et al., 2019), meaning that many children referred for ADHD evaluation may also meet criteria for DMDD. Additionally, the two disorders can have some similarity in how they present. Thus, clinicians who frequently assess children for ADHD could benefit from being aware of how measures commonly used in ADHD evaluations can also be useful in identifying characteristics of DMDD as well as patterns of impairment more specific to DMDD. The present study explored possible differences in parent and teacher ratings of child peer impairment as well as …

Generations Observation Project: The Rise Of Gen Z: From Boomers To Zoomers, Whitney Nesser

2025 Fall Reports (Terre Haute)

A small group (n=4) of Honors College students developed and distributed a survey to observe the thoughts and concerns of different generations regarding how technology could be implemented in the forthcoming development of growing cities, such as Terre Haute. The project culminated in a poster presentation at the Sustainability Symposium.

Characterization Of Free Oxylipins In Extracellular Vesicles From Bovine Milk, Kai Filio

Food Science (MS) Theses

Background. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-bound nanostructures released by human and bovine mammary epithelial cells that carry bioactive lipids and oxidized lipid metabolites. Found in bovine milk, EVs contribute to immune modulation, gut health, and cellular signaling. However, gaps remain in understanding the full composition of milk-derived EVs and how processing alters EV content. This research aimed to characterize the free oxylipin content of EVs from bovine milk treated by pasteurization and homogenization. The hypothesis was that EVs from raw bovine milk would retain higher oxylipin levels than processed milk. Methods. Raw milk was treated by high-temperature short time (HTST), …

From Standard To Stratified: Modeling Ntcp And Ear To Personalize Daily Mv-Cbct In Radiotherapy., Duong Thanh Tai, Luong Tien Phat, Tran Trung Kien, Duong Tuan Linh, Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Nguyen Quang Hung, Peter Sandwall, Parham Alaei, David Bradley, James C L Chow

Oncology Articles

PURPOSE: To evaluate the cumulative radiobiological impact of daily megavoltage cone-beam computed tomography (MV-CBCT) imaging dose based on normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) and excess absolute risk (EAR) of secondary malignancies among radiotherapy patients treated for breast, pelvic, and head & neck cancers. This study investigated whether MV-CBCT imaging dose warrants protocol personalization according to patient age, anatomical treatment site, and organ-specific radiosensitivity.

METHODS: This retrospective study included cohorts of breast (n = 30), pelvic (n = 17), and head & neck (n = 20) cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy with daily MV-CBCT. Imaging dose distributions employing two common MV-CBCT protocols …

Pathways To Progress: Understanding Gender Gaps Across Life Stages In The Asean Region, Debbie Wong, Jacqueline Cheng, Elizabeth Cassity, Jeaniene Spink, Payal Goundar, Jeffery H. Marshall

International Education Research

The ASEAN region continues to grapple with some of the world’s most pronounced disparities in educational outcomes. Addressing foundational learning gaps and promoting equity and inclusion for girls, women and marginalised groups remains a central priority in both educational improvement and labour market reform agendas regionally and internationally. This report presents new insights into the factors shaping human development outcomes for girls, women and marginalised groups in the ASEAN region. It supports the priorities under the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), which aims to reduce development disparities among ASEAN member states. Grounded in case studies from the newer ASEAN member …