Digital Commons Network^™

The Shorthorn: November 4, 1982

The Shorthorn Newspaper Collection: 1980s

No abstract provided.

The Shorthorn: November 2, 1982

The Shorthorn Newspaper Collection: 1980s

No abstract provided.

Afakasi: An Ambiguous Space In A Monolithic Education System, Jacqueline F. Buckley

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Throughout American history, examinations of ethnicity have mainly focused on a binary of Black and White (White, 2007, p. 339). Little study has been conducted on the nation's ethnic minorities, including Arabs, Jews, Asians, Micronesians, Melanesians, and Polynesians. The White race has effectively become the nation's default race (Khoshneviss, 2018, p. 19). Furthermore, research on the experiences of individuals of mixed ethnicity, particularly in education, remains limited. This study will uncover the mixed-ethnic Afakasi (half Samoan and half White) experience of myself as an educator who lived through and taught within the American K-12 system, experiencing the status quo curriculum …

Biotechnological Applications Of Microalgae: Advances, Potential And Future Challenges: A Review, Samiha M. Gharib, Mohamed Z. Nassar

Blue Economy

This review highlights the diverse biotechnological applications of microalgae, emphasizing their significance in human health, nutrition, and sustainable development. Microalgae are among the most widespread photosynthetic microorganisms in aquatic environments, characterized by remarkable metabolic diversity and the ability to produce a wide range of valuable bioactive compounds. These compounds include proteins, lipids, essential fatty acids, pigments, vitamins, and antioxidants, which support their applications in food, feed, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetic industries. In addition to their nutritional and therapeutic potential, microalgae play a crucial role in environmental management through carbon dioxide sequestration, wastewater treatment, and bioremediation processes. Their capacity to convert solar …

Automated Creative Evaluation Based On Multimodal Ai For Facebook Reels Ads Using Chatgpt, Mohamed Zakaria Soltan

Journal of Art, Design and Music

This work presents a useful multimodal analytical method for automating the creative evaluation of Facebook's Reel ads through the use of ChatGPT. Nowadays, brief ads in digital spaces need to evoke an emotional response from viewers in order to grab their attention. Traditional techniques of evaluating creativity might not be reliable, scalable, or fair. To encourage quantifiable and repeatable innovations, this paper lays forth a method for combining time, space, sound, and motion into a scientifically solid framework. The suggested multimodal analytical framework is utilized. This work explores the themes of time, motion, color, and music. The study utilized notable …

Rural U.S. Midwestern Kindergarten Through Grade 5 Elementary Teachers’ Experiences With 3d Science Instruction, Janine L. Sankar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

The Meme Event: Memefication, Memory-Making And Political Resistance In The Biafra Digital Discourse, Chimaobi Dick Onwukwe

Theses - ALL

In this thesis, I examine the Biafran digital commemoration on May 30th every year—Biafra Commemoration Day. Specifically, I examine how the Biafran digital commemorative culture functions as memorialization and political action. Drawing on theoretical reserves from modern meme studies and performance studies, I propose a theory of “meme event”—a coordinated digital practice that encompasses not just memetic content but the larger ecology of its creation, circulation, strategic timing (May 30th), and strategic deployment. The rallying slogan “We don’t die, we multiply” serves as the anchor around which the meme event revolves, circulating both memetic content and non-meme posts. This theoretical …

Yardie Epistemologies: Queer Survival, Respectability, And Political Economy In Contemporary Jamaica, Nicole Hylton

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines how queer Jamaicans navigate, survive, and theorize life within a social order structured by colonial legacies, racialized class hierarchy, nationalist masculinity, Christian moral authority, and neoliberal austerity. Drawing on qualitative, narrative-centered research conducted between 2012 and 2014, with consistent return visits in subsequent years, the study employs grounded theory, critical ethnography, and Black feminist political economy to analyze how sexual citizenship is unevenly distributed across lines of color, class, gender expression, and access to resources. Participants include LGBTQ individuals, activists, academics, state actors, and community members whose narratives are treated not as illustrative data but as sites …

Reimagining Chinese Folk Toys In Contemporary Life Through Illustration And Toy Design, Huimin Huang

Theses - ALL

This research explores how traditional Chinese folk toys can be reinterpreted through contemporary illustration and toy design. The research subjects are cloth tigers, fish lanterns and clay dolls. These three respectively carry cultural meanings as protection, celebration and happiness. With the changes in modern lifestyles, these handmade toys have gradually withdrawn from daily life and are more often preserved as cultural heritages. This article focuses on how to bring these traditional cultural elements back into contemporary life through visual narrative and product design. This project takes the seven-year-old girl, named Nannan, as the core character. She is dressed in traditional …

Analysis Of The Formation And Structure Of Protective Films In Sustainable Ionic Liquid Lubricants, Brendan Mahoney

Theses

Friction losses and wear of sliding components account for nearly one quarter of global energy consumption. Developing new lubricants to reduce these losses is essential for a more cost-effective and sustainable future. The automotive industry offers the greatest economic potential for new tribological discoveries, as it affects billions of people around the world. A significant portion of the friction losses in automobiles are due to the reciprocating motion in the engine, which leads to metal-on-metal contact. Ionic liquids have emerged as novel lubricants and additives due to their ability to form protective surface layers on metals, reducing friction and wear. …

Unfriending The Kids: The Problematic Race To Childproof Social Media, Randolph A. Robinson Ii

Cleveland State Law Review

A growing number of states have recently enacted new laws with the goal of protecting young people from potential harm allegedly caused by social media use. These laws are diverse in their approaches but broadly seek to limit youth access to social media platforms by imposing age verification and parental consent requirements. These laws directly implicate the First Amendment rights of both young users who will no longer be able to access speech or speak on social media platforms as well as adult users who must now submit to age verification to access these quintessential forums for political discourse.

These …

From Maps To Meadows: Ecologically Literate Zoning And The Regeneration Of Wildlife Habitats, Jonathan Rosenbloom

Cleveland State Law Review

For more than a century, zoning has shaped the American landscape, often at the expense of wildlife and ecosystems. Rooted in legal doctrines that treated animals as property and nature as a raw material, zoning codes have fragmented habitats, erased migration corridors, and accelerated biodiversity loss. At the same time, federal protections are narrowing, leaving critical gaps in environmental governance. This Article argues that local governments possess both the authority and the obligation to respond. By embedding ecological principles into zoning—through conservation districts, wildlife corridor protections, wetland buffers, pollinator protections, dark skies, wildlife fencing, habitat restoration, and others—municipalities can transform …

De-Homogenizing Inclusive Education In South Africa: How Local Onto-Epistemological Framings Of Dis/Ability, Smartness, And “Successful” Inclusive Education Inform Culturally Sustaining Inclusion Practices, Treasa Marie Praino

Dissertations - ALL

In this multi-site, interpretivist, qualitative study, I explored how participants in two socio-culturally and geo-historically distinct South African inclusive primary schools conceptualize dis/ability, smartness, and successful (inclusive) education. I also examined how participants’ interpretations of these constructs informed each school’s unique and culturally sustaining inclusive education practices. I aimed to answer two overarching research questions for this dissertation: (1) How do Saamgroei and Oakview participants conceptualize dis/ability, smartness, and successful (inclusive) education? (2) How do participants’ constructions of dis/ability, smartness, and successful (inclusive) education inform their culturally sustaining inclusion strategies? Saamgroei is a Quintile 1 (government-funded) rural school, serving predominantly …

From Regionalism To Continentalism: Lessons From Ecowas For The Implementation Of Afcfta., Michael Agbo

Theses - ALL

Abstract: This thesis examines the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a test for understanding Africa’s continental economic integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It argues that the persistent failures of state-led integration, in this matter, the ECOWAS, from the repeated inability to roll out a single currency for trade within West Africa to the deliberate infiltration of France and other Western capitalist interests in the economic lives of the people of West Africa, are not just incidental failures of political will or technical implementation setbacks. They are consequences of building Pan-Africanism and integration efforts …

Learning Under Information And Experience Constraints In Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning, Qinwei Huang

Dissertations - ALL

Reinforcement learning is a powerful approach for training cooperative multi-agent systems. However, it is usually studied under idealized conditions. Standard formulations assume abundant experience, reliable communication, and cleanly observable state. Physical multi-agent systems rarely satisfy these assumptions, and instead operate under several kinds of scarcity. This dissertation studies reinforcement learning for cooperative multi-agent systems under two practical resource constraints. We show that effective learning in these settings depends not only on how much communication, computation, or experience is available, but also on how limited information and experience are represented, reused, and evaluated. Part I addresses information constraints in cooperative multi-agent …

Using Low-Frequency Vibrational Spectroscopy To Develop Analytical Profiles For Polymorphic Organic Molecular Crystals, Salvatore Zarrella

Dissertations - ALL

Low-frequency vibrational spectroscopy provides a sensitive approach for characterizing polymorphism and intermolecular dynamics in organic molecular crystals. Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) and low-frequency Raman spectroscopy probe collective lattice vibrations arising from weak intermolecular interactions, offering direct insight into crystal packing, phase stability, and structural organization that is often inaccessible to conventional diffraction and mid-infrared techniques. To interpret these modes, experimental measurements are combined with periodic solid-state density functional theory (ss-DFT), which enables vibrational assignments to specific intermolecular motions, and crystal structure prediction (CSP), which maps accessible polymorphic energy landscapes. Together, these methods form a unified experimental–computational framework for understanding molecular …

Older Recent Widows’ Physical Activity Before And After Spouses’ Deaths A Qualitative Investigation Of The Impact Of Duration And Intensity Of Care Work And Social Support, Mary Theresa Pagan

Dissertations - ALL

Abstract This study investigates and expands understanding of how care work, widowhood, social support, and physical activity intersect in the lives of older recent widows. The study addresses three primary research questions examining the duration and intensity of care work, pre- and post-death social support, and factors that influenced widows’ physical activity before and after the death of their spouses. Thirty semi-structured, face-to-face interviews conducted with heterosexual widows aged 60 and older residing in Upstate New York who were widowed within 6–24 months prior to interview. Interviews explored care work experiences, social support, widowhood transitions, and both structured and non-structured …

(R2174) A Stationary First-Order Autoregressive Process With New Discrete Lindley Marginal Distribution, Tégawendé Martin Kabore, Jean-Etienne Ouindllassida Ouédraogo

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

This paper introduces a new stationary first-order autoregressive integer-valued process with a marginal distribution following the New Discrete Lindley distribution, referred to as NDLINAR( 1). The process is developed to model over-dispersed count time series exhibiting a mixed behavior arising from the combination of multiple distributions. Its statistical properties are thoroughly investigated, and the parameters are estimated using conditional maximum likelihood. The asymptotic properties of the estimators are also analyzed. The performance of the proposed model is evaluated by comparing it with other existing INAR(1) processes through applications to real datasets. Results demonstrate that the NDL-INAR(1) process effectively captures the …

Dimensional Welfare Beyond Pain: Extending The Precautionary Principle In Birch’S “The Edge Of Sentience”, Willa M. Lane, Nicola S. Clayton

Animal Sentience

Birch's (2024) The Edge of Sentience identifies sentience candidates primarily through the pain-focused LSE Criteria. Yet, as Birch himself notes in Proposal 17, sentience is not pain. We argue that statutory welfare protections must therefore reach beyond pain, and that the right tool for doing so is Birch et al.’s (2020) dimensionality framework, which characterises conscious experience across five domains. Used together, the LSE Criteria establish that welfare is at stake, while the dimensionality framework maps what is at stake beyond pain to provide a taxon-specific profile of where captivity impoverishes experience. We apply this approach to invertebrate welfare and …

Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project: Navigating Endangered Species Act Litigation For Human Welfare, Dane Eastman

LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources

No abstract provided.

Mighty Mangrove Trees Bring The Creditors To The Yard: China To Swap Sri Lanka's Debt-For-Nature, Tharuka Fernando

LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Perspectives Of Refugee Youth On Education And Freedom In Malaysia, Seok Wun (Shiila) Au Yong

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines how refugee youth in Malaysia understand, experience, and reimagine education and freedom within a socio-political context that denies them legal recognition, mobility, access to public education, opportunities for legal employment, and affordable healthcare. As Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees are not formally recognized by the state. Situating itself within refugee education scholarship and drawing on transnational feminism, critical refugee studies, critical disability studies, and queer theory, this study centers refugee youth as knowledge producers, interrogates dominant narratives of refugee youth, and challenges the conventional approaches to refugee education in order to …

Syphilis And Hiv Co-Infection Risk Factors At Dr. Moewardi Hospital, 2018–2022: A Retrospective Study, Endra Yustin Ellistasari, Prasetyadi Mawardi, Pratiwi Prasetya Primisawitri, Stella Gracia Octarica

Journal of General - Procedural Dermatology and Venereology Indonesia

Background: Treponema pallidum, the agent causing syphilis, is transmitted through contact with infectious lesions, bodily fluids, blood transfusions, or perinatally. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection can mask the clinical manifestations of syphilis, while syphilis may exacerbate HIV progression. This study aimed to analyze risk factors associated with HIV co-infection among patients with syphilis.

Methods: This retrospective, analytical, observational study reviewed medical records from the Dermatology and Venereology outpatient clinic at Dr. Moewardi Hospital, Surakarta, Indonesia, between January 2018 and December 2022. Demographic, behavioral, and clinical variables were extracted. Univariable analysis was performed using simple binary logistic regression to …

(R2161) Robust Optimization Of Industrial Hazardous Waste Location-Routing Problem Considering Response Actions To Environmental Risk, Sharareh Teimoori, Farhad Hosseinzadeh Lotfi, Seyyed Esmaeil Najafi, Navid Rafiei

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

The management of hazardous industrial waste has emerged as a significant global challenge due to rapid technological advancements. Industrial hazardous waste management systems must be designed not only to be cost-effective but also to minimize environmental risks. This study proposes a mixed-integer programming model for the location-routing of industrial hazardous waste that incorporates both primary and secondary environmental risks, along with suitable response actions. Furthermore, a scenario-based robust optimization model is developed to address uncertainties in the quantities of industrial hazardous waste. A case study is conducted to demonstrate the applicability and comparative performance of the nominal and robust models. …

Components Of Skin Boosters: A Therapeutic Role In Dermatologic Conditions, Ita Anggraini, Yuwandita Tamara Putri Dermawan, Eka Komarasari, Prima Kartika Esti

Journal of General - Procedural Dermatology and Venereology Indonesia

Background: The term “skin booster” is commonly referred to in dermatology. These products may comprise several components, including exosomes, secretomes, chitosan, polydeoxyribonucleotide, platelet-rich plasma, and hyaluronic acid. In today’s world, the use of such products is not confined to aesthetic purposes; they are also used to treat several other skin conditions. This review paper highlights the role of “skin booster" components for different skin disorders based on their in vitro, in vivo, and clinical studies.

Discussion: “Skin boosters” are bioactive agents typically administered into the dermal layer. Understanding the mechanisms of each component is important because their applications extend beyond …

Rethinking African Security In The Anthropocene: An Alternative Framework, Hamdy A. Hassan

All Works

Introduction – Traditional approaches to African security often treat neocolonialism, governance failures, and terrorism as isolated issues, obscuring their systemic interconnections under Anthropocene conditions of human-induced environmental change. This study argues that African security should be reconceptualized in light of climate change, resource depletion, and ecosystem degradation, as these dynamics reshape the continent's collective security arrangements. Methods – This research combines critical analysis of African collective security mechanisms, focusing on the African Union and the African Peace and Security Architecture, with qualitative evidence from 15 unstructured interviews conducted in Mali, Nigeria, and Egypt between July and October 2025. Thematic qualitative …

Predicting Thoroughbred Yearling Auction Prices With Machine Learning: Evidence From The Keeneland September Sale, Yanchao Yang, John Clarke, Tapaan Madal '26, Thinh Nguyen '26, Trung Pham '25

Business Analytics Faculty Publications

We apply machine learning methods to predict Thoroughbred yearling auction prices at the Keeneland September Sale (2020–2024). Our sample includes 5,788 yearling prices with pedigree data. We use both linear and tree-based models to predict log prices. We use cross-validation to tune model hyperparameters and select Ridge regression (α = 1.451) as the primary model for interpretation given its stability and interpretability. The Ridge regression explains approximately 54% of out-of-sample variation (R2≈ 0.5403). Sire and Dam Reputation emerge as the dominant predictors. Results provide pricing benchmarks and show how reputation and session structure shape Thoroughbred yearling auction prices.

Complex Question Analysis In Voice Commands Using Generate Sql For Database Searching, P. Prabaswara, D. Wardani

Baghdad Science Journal

The definition of a complex question is a long sentence with many focal points that may have many answers, involve many entities, or use non-standard linguistic constructs. Complex questions can be obtained from voice commands. It will help some people with blindness or visual impairments. Voice commands have become a mandatory feature of applications, including the basic one to access databases. In this work, the Generate Structured Query Language Configuration (GSC) approach was developed to answer complex questions in the Indonesian language. The non-learning approach was chosen as the learning process needs costly computation and is inappropriate for low-resource languages. …

Sensorimotor Factors In Fall Risk Assessment And Prevention In Older Adults, Claire Smith

Dissertations - ALL

The primary objective of this dissertation was to test the validity and sensitivity of a novel fall risk assessment and investigate the sensorimotor factors that prevent a fall. Study 1 was designed to validate a novel reaction time test and see if it was sensitive enough to correctly assign an older adult’s fall status. The evidence showed a significant difference between young and non-faller older adults (p < 0.001) and young and faller older adults (p = 0.040), supporting the existing literature. Although there was no significant difference between the older and fallers (p = 0.037), the reaction time test was able to accurately assign adults with their fall status, accurately placing 25% of the 36% of actual fallers into the fall status category. Study 2 examined if traditionally used measures of functional health could predict an older adult’s postural performance following random perturbations at increasingly difficult intensities. Stepwise multiple regression results indicated that gait speed (p < 0.001) and balance performance (p < 0.001) were significant predictors at the lowest perturbation intensity with no distractions (single-task), and plantarflexor strength (p < 0.001) was a significant predictor at all intensities with the addition of a distraction (dual-task) for stride length performance. There were no significant predictors of bilateral symmetry performance (p > 0.05). Study 3 examined the physiological mechanisms behind postural responses following a sudden perturbation. Stepwise multiple regression results indicated that H-reflex amplitude while standing was most common significant predictor at all perturbation intensities …

Spatial Capital Dynamics Examining Ecological Distribution Conflicts Within The Electric Vehicle Supply-And-Consumption Chain, Alice Piva, Anna Kondi, Beatriz Couto, Chaitaly Deshpande, Dieudonné E. Da Costa, John Smith, Josephine Agbeko, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Publications

Energy transitions are often celebrated as pathways to a greener future. Yet, they frequently reproduce spatially uneven burdens and patterns of dispossession, particularly affecting marginalised communities from the Global South. While climate justice debates have advanced, their spatial dimension has received comparatively less systematic attention. This paper documents an experimental use of spatial capital as a lens to analyse how green transitions reshape territorial agency and reinforce spatial inequalities. The three case studies across the electric vehicle chain show how spatial capital illustrates the sustainability agenda’s capacity to reshape people’s ability to access, inhabit, and act within their territories.