Digital Commons Network^™

Volume 34, Number 3, Winter 2025/26, Office Of Communications, Illinois Wesleyan University

Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine, 2018-present

VOLUME 34 | NUMBER 3 | Winter 2025/2026

ON OUR COVER:

Elliot Notrica '26 is developing micro-organisms that create new food products from food waste like cocoa husks and leftover bread dough.

18 Found Families. Celebrate one of the best-attended IWU Homecoming Weekends with stories of alumni friendships across the decades.

22 The Future of Food. Elliott Notrica '26 is the founder and CEO of Symbio Bioculinary where he is creating the future of food with cutting-edge genetic engineering.

26 Hope in Crisis. EmPath units, invented by Scott Zeller '82, are revolutionizing emergency care around the world.

Eng 4750-600 Legacy And Contemporary African-American Drama, Christopher Wixson

Spring 2026

No abstract provided.

Eng 5061d-600 Research And Creative Writing, Christopher Wixson

Spring 2026

No abstract provided.

Eng 1009g-150 Stories Matter, Travis Moody

Spring 2026

No abstract provided.

Mama Vr: A Framework To Design Mindfulness-Based Programs In Virtual Reality, Jeffrey Arthur Juelsgaard

Mindfulness Theses

Research demonstrates numerous benefits of mindfulness practice, and virtual reality is a promising medium that can be tailored to foster mindfulness through novel means. Yet, to be effective, mindfulness-based programs in virtual reality (MBP+VR) should adhere to evidence-based methods. For various reasons, the level of mindfulness among users, the acceptability of VR technology, users' mood, and adherence to mindfulness programs are often evaluated in studies on MBP+VR. However, due in part to the heterogeneity of MBP+VR designs and a lack of detailed descriptions of MBP+VR methods in much of the scientific literature to date, there is no agreement yet on …

Complexity Mindsets, Complex Flow, And More: A Qualitative Grounded Theory Study On The Phenomenon Of Practitioners Working Within Complex Social Systems, Emma D. Stellman

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative grounded theory study addressed gaps in the literature regarding the application of complexity theory to complex social phenomena (CSP), for which no straightforward solutions or simple interventions exist. While complexity theory has played an important role in groundbreaking innovations in quantitative fields such as medicine, engineering, and finance, its application remains limited in human-centered developmental domains including education, social work, and healthcare. Using a grounded theory design informed by phenomenological approaches, this study examined the lived experiences of a group of six CSP practitioners, each of whom participated in two individual, semi-structured video interviews. Interview data were analyzed …

Anoikis Resistance And Metastasis Of Ovarian Cancer Can Be Overcome By Cdk8/19 Mediator Kinase Inhibition, Mehri Monavarian, Resha Rajkarnikar, Emily Faith Page, Asha Kumari, Liz Quintero Macias, Felipe Massicano, Nam. Y. Lee, Sarthak Sahoo, Nadine Hempel, Mohit Kumar Jolly, Lara Ianov, Elizabeth Worthey, Abhyudai Singh, Igor Roninson Ph.D., Eugenia Broude Ph.D., Mengqian Chen Ph.D., Karthikeyan Mythreye

Faculty Publications

Anoikis resistance, or evasion of cell death triggered by matrix detachment, is a hallmark of cancer cell survival and metastasis. We showed that repeated exposure to suspension stress followed by recovery under attached conditions leads to development of anoikis resistance. The acquisition of anoikis resistance was associated with enhanced invasion, chemoresistance, and immune evasion in vitro and distant metastasis in vivo. This acquired anoikis resistance was not genetic, persisting for a finite duration without detachment stress, but was sensitive to CDK8/19 mediator kinase inhibition that could also reverse anoikis resistance. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that CDK8/19 kinase inhibition induces bidirectional transcriptional …

“It Seems Like A Never-Ending Job”: Voices Of Female Caregivers Of Older Adults In The Rural Communities, Lalani Nasreen, Bhagyashree Katare, Evans Appiah Osei, Siqi Yang, Sampada Wagle, Julian L. Gallegos, Abidemi Mary Ajuwon

School of Nursing Faculty Publications

Background: Rural female caregivers of older adults face significant caregiving challenges that puts them at high risk for poor self-care and wellbeing. Limited studies have examined the self-care needs of caregivers from a gender equity and social perspective.

Objective: Our study aims to explore the self-care needs and preferences of rural female caregivers and underlying key processes contributing toward their health and well-being. Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used for the study. A purposive sample of (n = 20) rural female caregivers was obtained. In-depth individual interviews were conducted for data collection. Each interview was about 45- 60 min …

Single-Valued Neutrosophic Pessimistic Multi-Granulation Rough Set Model Based On (A,B,C)-Cut Relations And Its Applications, Xu-Xi Wu, Hu Zhao, Qiao-Ling Song, Xiong-Wei Zhang

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

To address uncertainty in multi-source data, this paper proposes a single-valued neutrosophic pessimistic multi-granulation rough set (P-SVN-MGRS) model based on (a,b,c)-cut relations. In this framework, each neutrosophic relation is characterized by three membership-degree functions: T(x,y), I(x,y), and F(x,y). These functions correspond to truth-membership, indeterminacy, and falsity, respectively. The (α,β,γ)-cut relation employs parameters α,β,γ∈(0,1] as thresholds for the three functions. A pair (x,y) belongs to …

Rab5c Increases Endothelial Release Of Vwf By Regulating Vesicle Trafficking, Paula Reventun, Pablo Toledano-Sanz, Maria Delgado-Marin, Maria Viskadourou, D Brian Foster, Paul S De Vries, Maria Sabater-Lleal, Nunzio Alcharani, Claudia Gonzalez-Cucharero, William O Osburn, Alanna C Morrison, Alisa S Wolberg, Nicholas L Smith, Marios Arvanitis, Charles J Lowenstein

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Abnormal levels of VWF (von Willebrand Factor) are a risk factor for venous thromboembolism (VTE) and bleeding. Genome-wide association studies for VWF have identified novel candidate genes that may regulate VWF levels in humans, including RAB5C (RAS-associated protein RAB5C). We hypothesized that RAB5C regulates VWF release from endothelial cells.

Methods: We studied the effect of RAB5C on vesicle trafficking in human endothelial cells. We performed CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) interference targeting 2 genetic variants linked to altered VWF levels and evaluated RAB5C expression by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. We silenced RAB5C or overexpressed RAB5C wild-type, …

Kenyon Collegian - January 15, 2026

The Kenyon Collegian

No abstract provided.

The Effectiveness Of Aescin Diethylamine Salicylate In Alleviating Peri-Orbital Oedema Ollowing Septorhinoplasty: Follow-Up Study In Basrah, Iraq, Mohannad Mahdi Yaseen, Haider K. Saeed, Ansam Ghazi Abdulwahid

Iraqi National Journal of Medicine

Background: Periorbital oedema following septorhinoplasty is one of the major complications. Various measures have been advocated to alleviate this issue, including the use of a variety of chemical and/or physical materials, such as Aescin. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the role of Aescin in reducing peri-orbital oedema following septorhinoplasty. Methods: Fifty-four patients underwent primary septorhinoplasty at both Syaab and Saddar Teaching Hospitals in Basrah, Iraq, from September 2023 to September 2024. This randomized prospective interventional study collected data from patients using a designed form during the initial interview. The study population was divided into two groups randomly, group A …

Does Valsartan Affect The Cytotoxicity Of Doxorubicin When Used As A Cardioprotective Drug Against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity ?, Shaymaa Fadhil Abbas, Ahmed Bader Abdulwahid, Duha Emad Omran, Nehaya Mnahi Al-Aubody, Mohammad Fawzi Albadran

Iraqi National Journal of Medicine

Background: Doxorubicin is widely used as a chemotherapeutic drug. It has several serious side effects, including cardiotoxicity. Valsartan is an angiotensin II receptor blocker that plays a cardioprotective role against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. Aim: The aim of our study is to evaluate whether the combination of valsartan and doxorubicin affects the therapeutic efficacy of doxorubicin in treating cancer using an in vitro breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). Methods: Different concentrations of doxorubicin, valsartan, and their combination were tested to detect their cytotoxic effects on the cell line using MTT colorimetric assay method. Three duplicates of each concentration and control were made. …

Writing From The Rift: Queer Temporality And The Refusal Of Resolution, Daniela Ruiz Perez

Masters Theses

This thesis develops a phenomenological method for reading speculative literature as a site where queer ecological temporality is experienced rather than explained. Working with Annihilation (2014) by Jeff VanderMeer, The Day of the Triffids (1951) by John Wyndham, and Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals (2020) by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, the project treats reading as a bodily practice shaped by forms of attention. Texts are not interpreted for stable meaning and instead I remain with moments where resolution is withheld. The work is informed by a Marxist attention to how capitalist time organizes labor, productivity, and value, and how …

C Elegans As A Tractable Infection Model For The Emerging Fungal Pathogen Candida Auris, Melissa Martinez, Melissa R Cruz, Danielle A Garsin, Michael C Lorenz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Candida auris is an emerging multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen. The genetic factors contributing to the virulence, drug resistance, and stress-tolerant nature of C. auris are mostly unknown. Additional animal models of virulence are needed, especially those amenable to high-throughput analysis. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been validated as an effective tool for studying multiple fungal and bacterial pathogens. We describe here a C. elegans infection model in which exposure to C. auris is lethal to worms with kinetics similar to killing by Candida albicans; in contrast to C. albicans, C. auris does not form hyphae, indicating distinct virulence mechanisms. …

Bridging Hypoxia And Vision Loss: The Emerging Role Of Connexins In Local And Systemic Eye Diseases, Xianping Zhang, Yalong Cheng, Jean X Jiang, Yuting Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hypoxic eye diseases represent a pivotal yet often underappreciated contributor to the onset and progression of many retinal disorders. When hypoxia persists or exceeds the tissue's compensatory capacity, it triggers pathological retinal neovascularization, blood-retinal barrier disruption, and neuronal apoptosis, ultimately resulting in irreversible visual impairment. Connexins (Cxs) form gap junction channels and hemichannels and regulate retinal cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival, thereby playing a central regulatory role in the pathogenesis of hypoxic ocular diseases. In addition to gap junctions, Cx hemichannels promote transmission of molecules between intra- and extracellular environments, further influencing retinal homeostasis under hypoxic stress. This review synthesizes …

Pythagorean Neutrosophic Mathematical Modelling, M. Kavitha, R. Irene Hepzibah

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

Survey-based assessments often suffer from ambiguity, inconsistency, and uncertainty, which weaken the reliability of decision-making outcomes. To address these challenges, this study proposes a novel decision-support framework for data fuzzification, ranking, and agility measurement using Pythagorean Neutrosophic Fuzzy Sets (PNFS). The proposed method offers three major advantages: (i) enhanced ability to capture high levels of indeterminacy compared with classical fuzzy and intuitionistic models, (ii) improved ranking accuracy through a newly developed score function and ranking algorithm, and (iii) greater robustness in scenarios involving conflicting, incomplete, or imprecise expert judgments. The framework includes a refined Pythagorean Neutrosophic fuzzification technique, mathematically supported …

Neutrosophic Hankel Transforms And Their Application To Cross-Domain Legislative Integration, Mona Gharib, Mehboob Ali, Ishtiaq Hussain

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

This paper introduces the Neutrosophic Hankel Transform (NHT) as a novel mathematical framework for modeling systems with radial structure under uncertainty, indeterminacy, and inconsistency. Building upon classical Hankel transforms and neutrosophic logic, we define two complementary realizations: a componentwise transform (NHT–C) that transports uncertainty with the signal, and a kernel-weighted transform (NHT–K) that embeds neutrosophic weights into the integral kernel. We establish linearity, inversion, and Parseval-type relations, and derive operational rules that diagonalize the Bessel radial operator.

To demonstrate utility, we formulate a radial diffusion–reaction model for pollutant concentration in a radialized river cross-section and solve it in closed form …

From Uncertainty To Lucidity: Awareness Neutrosophic Kähler-Einstein Innovative Evaluator Methodological In Era Of Green Artificial Intelligence, Mona Mohamed, Ahmed M. Ali

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

The rapid development of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) is a double-edged sword. On the positive side, Large Language Models (LLMs) of Gen AI as chatbot considered intelligent friend. Due to its potential to stimulate the maturation of ideas and cultivate fundamental general abilities like problem-solving and critical thinking. The advancement of Gen AI continued after that, moving from “chatbots” to “AI agents” that carry out multi-step activities in addition to responding to queries.

Regarding the downside, the terminology of “Red AI” era brought about by generative AI is marked by a performance at any expense that puts pressure on …

Serendipity In Psychiatric Discoveries: Historical Lessons And Future Imperatives For Clinical Observation, Stanley Lyndon, Vineeth P John

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Aims and method: Serendipity has driven many of psychiatry's most important treatments, yet contemporary systems may undermine clinicians' ability to notice and develop unexpected therapeutic effects. This selective narrative review synthesises landmark discovery stories, conceptual accounts of serendipity and contemporary case examples to clarify how chance observations become robust advances.

Results: Across historical and modern examples, serendipitous discoveries consistently reflected the interaction of unexpected events with prepared observers working in supportive institutional and research systems. We identify current barriers created by standardised care, funding and trial structures, and professional fragmentation, and outline a multi-level framework for cultivating serendipity through phenomenological …

Unexpected Chicken Soup, Keehan White

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

Running Is Flying, Madeleine Burns

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

The Passing Of Jean Baudrillard, Robert J. Antonio

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Lies And Life: The Other Italians, Charles Lemert

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

On Werner Herzog's Documentary Grizzly Man: Psychoanalysis, Nature, And Meaning, John W. White

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

The Other Frankfurt School, Mark P. Worrell

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

The Power Elite At 50: C. Wrights Mills' Political Sociology In Midlife Crisis, Steven P. Dandaneau

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

The Disasters Of War, Avery F. Gordan

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

"Second Nature": Advertising, Metaphor And The Production Of Space, Shane Gunster

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Pattern Recognition In Fast Capitalism: Calling Literary Time On The Theorists Of Flux, Paul Taylor

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.