Digital Commons Network^™

Ethics Across The Curriculum: Application To Economics

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

We propose that the study of economics can be enhanced by students learning ethical reasoning within their economics courses. Our method for introducing more robust discussions of the relationship between ethics and economics is to incorporate principles and strategies from the “Ethics Across the Curriculum” program. The methods we used to enhance our own course can be adapted to any economics course and the resources we provide can help any economist become more comfortable with teaching ethical reasoning.

Changes In Math Prerequisites And Student Performance In Business Statistics: Do Math Prerequisites Really Matter?

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

We use a binary probit model to assess the impact of several changes in math prerequisites on student performance in an undergraduate business statistics course. While the initial prerequisites did not necessarily provide students with the necessary math skills, our study, the first to examine the effect of math prerequisite changes, shows that these changes were deleterious to student performance. Our results helped convince the College of Business to change the math prerequisite again beginning with the 2008/2009 academic year. Thus, this study is also the first to actually help strengthen math prerequisites and improve student performance in business statistics.

Western Mansions In The Gardens Of Perfect Brightness, Another History Of High Qing Sino-European Exchanges, Nicolas Woreth

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

The Gardens of Perfect Brightness, the favorite residence of Chinese Emperors in the High Qing era (1683-1799), held mysteries that will remain forever concealed from the public eye after French and British imperialist forces looted it and burned it beyond repair during the Second Opium War (1856-1860). Behind the doors of the secret garden, scarcely open to anyone but the emperor, his wives, and servants, worked European artists and scientists. Most of them were Jesuit missionaries who served the emperor in the hope of gaining his favor and support for the spread of Christianity in China.

This paper aims to …

Gold, Manuscripts, And Misunderstanding: The Forgotten Intellectual Wealth Of Timbuktu, Caroline A. Valdovinos

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

This article re-examines Timbuktu’s legacy, challenging European myths that imagined the city as a hidden African “El Dorado” while overlooking its intellectual wealth. From the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, Timbuktu thrived as a hub of trade, religion, and scholarship, home to mosques, libraries, and networks of learning that drew scholars from across the Islamic world. Manuscripts on theology, law, medicine, and science circulated widely, placing the city at the heart of West Africa’s intellectual life. Yet European explorers and mapmakers, influenced by accounts like those of Leo Africanus, recast Timbuktu as a treasure-laden city of gold. This obsession, reinforced by …

Satire, Guns, And Humans: Lessons From The Nacirema, Steve Kroll-Smith, Gwen Hunnicutt

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Create @ State 2023, Arkansas State University - Jonesboro

Create@State

The proceedings book for 2023

Create @ State 2022, Arkansas State University - Jonesboro

Create@State

The proceedings book for 2022

Create @ State 2019, Arkansas State University - Jonesboro

Create@State

The proceedings book for 2019

Create @ State 2018, Arkansas State University - Jonesboro

Create@State

The proceedings book for 2018

Learning Management Systems As Anti-Convivial Tools, Edward Maclin

Fast Capitalism

The last two decades have seen an increase in the number of online university classes operating under any of several commercial Learning Management Systems (LMS). Online classes expanded dramatically in the US during 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students, faculty, and administrators frequently assume that LMSs are epistemologically neutral. These LMSs are designed to do exactly what they say on the tin: they are systems for managing learning. At the same time, they function based on implicit understandings of "learning," "management," and "systems" that privilege some knowledges, interactions, and discourses while de-emphasizing others. In this paper I …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Tio₂@Zn₂Sno₄ Composite As A Novel Uv Filter With Reduced Photocatalytic Activity And Low Toxicity For Sunscreen Applications, Rusul Kadhim Naser, Kadhim Al-Attafi, Muntadher Abdulsalam A.Al.Alrabeeah

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

This study builds upon our recent investigation, which utilized various morphologies and particle sizes of Zn₂SnO₄ and TiO₂. Zn₂SnO₄ can block UVB and part of UVA and shows much less photocatalytic activity than TiO₂. Herein, the current study aims to reduce the photocatalytic activity of TiO_₂, a compound often utilized as an ultraviolet (UV) filter in sunscreen, by incorporating Zn₂SnO₄ as a composite_. Since Zn₂SnO₄ produces much fewer free radicals, in terms of the reactive oxygen species (ROS), due to its low photocatalytic activity. To overcome or minimize the high photocatalytic activity of TiO₂, composite materials TiO₂@Zn₂SnO₄ …

Vital Environs: Ecologies Of Modernism And The Nature Tradition, Danielle Nasenbeny

Dissertations

Vital Environs: Ecologies of Modernism and the Nature Tradition is an investigation of late nineteenth and early twentieth century British literature that explores the space between the individual and the external world. The project begins by exploring the “mind-body problem,” which is a topic in philosophy that recognizes the difficulty in understanding how the mind emerges from physical matter. While this topic has been in discussion since at least Descartes, science is still making crucial discoveries that challenge our understanding of this connection. I argue that the environmental crisis we find ourselves in today is a mind-body problem of global …

Improving The Retention Rate In The Introductory Programming Courses At Georgia Southwestern State University, Karen S. Cook, Sai K. Mukkavilli, Satyaki Nan

Perspectives In Learning

Post COVID, the incoming students in CS and IT programs have seen a significant increase in the fail, withdrawal rate. Though some of it is associated with the lack of classes and changes in modalities during COVID and the initial years that followed, most of it is due to the lack of proper foundation after high school and before introducing the programming courses. In this paper we identify the major reasons for the low retention rate and how it can be mitigated by introducing a logic course in the curriculum.

Commonwealth Times 2026-01-21

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Developing A Multimodal Approach To Channel Characterization On Youtube, Shadi Shajari

Theses and Dissertations

YouTube has become a dominant arena for global information sharing, where creators and audiences interact through content, comments, and engagement dynamics. Understanding how these interactions shape a channel’s identity requires a comprehensive characterization of both audience behavior and content structure. This dissertation develops a unified framework for characterizing YouTube channels through multimodal analysis that integrates behavioral modeling, dimensionality reduction, clustering, and content-based characterization to provide a holistic view of audience and editorial patterns. The framework begins by analyzing the structural relationships within co-commenter networks, where users who repeatedly comment on the same videos are connected to capture patterns of interaction …

The Age And Composition Of The Voyager Seamounts: Evidence For A Long-Lived Marquesas Mantle Source, Andrea Balbas, Hannah Paradis, Kevin Konrad, Valerie A. Finlayson, Michael Bizimis, Stephanie Anderson, Christopher Kelley, Nicole A. Raineault, Beth N. Orcutt

Faculty Publications

We present new observations on the dynamics and locations of deep mantle reservoirs derived from the ages and compositions of Voyager Seamount Chain lava flows. The previously unexplored Voyager Seamount Chain trends NW–SE between the Mid-Pacific Mountains and the Northwestern Hawaiian Ridge. Volcanic samples were recovered from the chain during the Ocean Exploration Trust expedition NA134. The lava flows are alkalic to highly alkalic in composition. Ages ranged from 81 to 86 Ma (n = 8), with the oldest ages in the NW and an age-progression toward the SE. The Voyager age-progression continues southward through the Northern Line Islands …

Improving Surface Analysis Through The Correct Use Of Low Energy Ion Scattering And X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy: Best Practices, Common Errors, And Multimodal Approaches For Material Development, Joshua W. Pinder

Theses and Dissertations

Surface analysis is the study of the atoms at surfaces and their connectivity, including their relative depth distribution, concentration, chemical state, and crystallinity. These characteristics govern many important material properties. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is one of the most widely used surface analysis techniques. Proper interpretation of XPS spectra including the appropriate use of backgrounds, peak shapes, peak positions, and charge compensation, with appropriate constraints on fitting parameters provide valuable information about elemental composition, concentration, depth distribution, and chemical speciation of surface atoms. However, despite widespread use, much of the XPS literature contains poor interpretations and irreproducible results which undermine …

High Frobenius Pushforwards Generate The Bounded Derived Category, Matthew R. Ballard, Srikanth B. Iyengar, Pat Lank, Alapan Mukhopadhyay, Josh Pollitz

Faculty Publications

This work concerns generators for the bounded derived category of coherent sheaves over a noetherian scheme X of prime characteristic. The main result is that when the Frobenius map on X is finite, for any compact generator G of D(X) the Frobenius pushforward F^e_*G generates the bounded derived category whenever p^e is larger than the codepth of X, an invariant that is a measure of the singularity of X. The conclusion holds for all positive integers e when X is locally complete intersection. The question of when one can take G = …

What Kind Of Relationality Does Quantum Mechanics Exhibit?, Emily Adlam

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

In this article I elaborate on the approach to relational quantum mechanics suggested by Adlam and Rovelli (2023). I suggest that this approach fills an important gap in the spectrum of relational approaches, because it posits that the relational aspects of quantum mechanics are both inherent and dynamical. I compare this approach to Orthodox RQM, arguing that it has a number of advantages, and I show how some possible objections can be resolved.

Design Concept For Low-Cost Management Of Early Medial Or Lateral Osteoarthritis, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Working Papers

Background: Asymmetrical joint space narrowing occurs in many cases of knee osteoarthritis (OA). The objective of the present study is to elucidate the biomechanics of lateral wedges in shoes used to widen the medial joint space in predominantly medial OA, and the biomechanics of medial wedges in shoes used to widen the lateral joint space in predominantly lateral OA. Methods: Medial or lateral shift of the center of weight bearing of the foot is largely offset by movement of the flexible hip joint, which changes the tilt angle of the femoral head in the frontal plane. The altered tilt can …

Spatial Strategies In Non-Territorial Societies: How Feral Horses Maintain Boundaries With Other Groups, Tamao Maeda, Sota Inoue, Monamie Ringhofer, Satoshi Hirata, Shinya Yamamoto

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Encounters between competitive individuals or groups are common in social animals and can involve costly aggression; thus, animals often employ strategies to minimize direct conflict. However, research on whether and how animals adjust their group spatial structure when they encounter or spatially co-occur with a different group remains limited. We investigated how non-territorial units in feral horse multilevel societies manage spatial encounters with neighbouring units. We observed 25 reproductive units in northern Portugal, using drones, and employed statistical analyses to quantify spatial dynamics. We found that horses actively adjusted their spatial formations depending on the proximity of other units. Units …

Developing A Collaborative Tool To Foster Communication In Sustainability Research, Nina Hunter, Noëlle-Laetitia Perret, Martin Klepal

Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Climate change necessitates urgent responses based on knowledge produced by teams that transcend disciplinary boundaries, and with members whose work focuses on the generation of knowledge and on the application of knowledge, with some integrating both. Almost a third of Europe’s building stock consists of heritage buildings requiring renovation that is ideally sustainable as part of an energy transition response. The European transdisciplinary CALECHE study team with use-cases in France, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland aims to support decision-making on the sustainable renovation of heritage buildings, via research that employs co-design. However, team members are from various disciplines, with different skillsets …

Thermoelectrochemical Synthesis Of Nanostructured Cupric Oxide (Cuo) Using Kmno4 As An Oxidant, Tony A. Hall, Michael Ibukun Kolawole, Janak Paudel

Faculty Scholarship

This research focuses on combining hydrothermal (hot water treatment) and electrochemical synthesis (EC) forming an advanced method termed ″thermoelectrochemical (TEC)” that introduces a rapid and controllable electrochemical strategy for synthesizing cupric oxide (CuO) nanostructures using potassium permanganate (KMnO4) as an oxidant under a constant electric potential at 75 °C for 3 h. The influence of applied voltage polarity on phase evolution, oxidation state, and morphology was systematically investigated. Under a positive bias of +Δ5 V, the copper substrate was fully oxidized into stoichiometric CuO, as confirmed by sharp XRD reflections, Raman-active Cu−O modes, and EDS spectra dominated by Cu−O composition. …

Dietary Inflammatory Index And Risk Of Colorectal Cancer In Japanese Men, Ayaka Kotemori, Kumiko Kito, Motoki Iwasaki, Taiki Yamaji, James Hébert Scd, Junko Ishihara, Manami Inoue, Shoichiro Tsugane, Norie Sawada On The Behalf Of Jphc Study Group

Faculty Publications

Background/Objectives: Unhealthy lifestyles lead to chronic low-grade inflammation, increasing the risk of colorectal cancer. Few studies in East Asia have examined the association between the dietary inflammation potential and colorectal cancer incidence. Therefore, we aimed to investigate this association further in the Japanese population. Methods: This study included 38,807 men aged 45–74 years who participated in the Japan Public Health Center-based prospective study (JPHC Study). The energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E-DII) was derived from a food frequency questionnaire. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Differences in risk due to a …

Adaptable Ai Apprentices: Law Practice Sidekicks, Henry H. Perritt, Jr.

University of Miami Law Review

Two case studies involving motorcycle-accident negligence and administrative law in the context of drone regulation violations explore the transformative potential of generative AI in legal practice. Four AI engines—DeepSeek, Claude, ChatGPT, and Grok—were asked to analyze transcripts of client interviews by identifying legal claims and assessing their strengths and weaknesses.

The results demonstrate that current AI technology effectively processes natural-language client interviews, identifies viable legal theories, and assesses claim strengths and weaknesses in both tort and administrative law contexts. The AI systems demonstrated proficiency in parsing legal theories and citing relevant statutes and administrative regulations, though case citations were frequently …

Studies Of Rhenium(I) Complexes With Protic Ligand Backbones: Base-Enabled Substitution And Co₂ Reduction, Konkanok Mathuros

Theses and Dissertations from DePaul University

Carbon dioxide is a major contributor to global climate change, and developing efficient electrocatalysts for its reduction to useful products remains an important challenge in renewable energy and sustainable chemistry. Rhenium(I) tricarbonyl complexes have been widely studied for selective CO₂-to-CO conversion, and recent efforts have focused on understanding how ligand structure and proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) processes govern catalytic activity. In this work, two families of rhenium complexes with protic backbones, fac-Re(PyBim)(CO)₃L and fac-Re(BidmimH)(CO)₃L (PyBimH = 2-(2′-pyridyl)benzimidazole; BidmimH₂ = 2,2′-bis(4,5-dimethylimidazole); L = neutral ligands), were synthesized and characterized to investigate the influence of axial ligand electronics on CO₂ reduction behavior. …

Chinese Young Children's Science Learning From Viewing Big Bird Looks At The World, Minxi Cheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study examined how cognitive and contextual factors jointly predict Chinese preschoolers’ science learning from the educational television program Big Bird Looks at the World (BBLW). Grounded in Fisch’s capacity model and Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory, the research aimed to clarify how children’s cognitive resources and ecological conditions interact to shape learning from media. Using secondary data from a large experimental sample of Chinese preschoolers (N = 849) across multiple regions, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was employed to estimate the relative contributions of predictors at the child and regional levels. Child-level variables included prior science knowledge, memory capacity, interest, age, household …

Consumer Vs. Code: The Future Of Consumer Smart Contracts From Code To Legal Practice, Amir Bushansky

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article evaluates the feasibility of implementing consumer contracts—including standard-form agreements—as smart contracts and assesses their adaptability through the lens of consumer protection law.

Specifically, it examines whether the traditional consumer contract framework can be meaningfully implemented in the form of smart contracts. It further considers whether such implementation necessitates adaptations—both in the technological architecture of the contracts themselves and in the underlying legal framework. By addressing these questions, the Article aims to contribute to a more coherent and forward-looking approach to regulating automated, code-based contracting in consumer markets.

Heterogeneous Catalysis Of Large Biomolecules: Insights From Platinum Particle Size In Nad+Regeneration, Jianwei Li, Samuel Robertshaw, Shouying Huang, Shelley D. Minteer, Xiaodong Wang

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) cofactor regeneration is essential for enabling dehydrogenase-promoted biosynthesis for value-added chemicals. Heterogeneous catalytic cofactor regeneration, using supported metal catalysts, is an emerging approach and has shown great promise. However, mechanistic insight remains largely unexplored. In this work, a series of silica-supported platinum (Pt) catalysts have been prepared for NAD⁺ cofactor regeneration, to understand the roles of Pt particle size and structure. A turnover frequency (TOF) 'volcano plot' was obtained for Pt clusters in the range of 2.2–7.1 nm, with the maximum TOF (136 h⁻¹) observed at 5.6 nm. Selective Pt site …

Does Sequence Matter? Impact Of Redesigning Sequential Calculus Course On Students’ Learning Outcomes, Chantal Levesque-Bristol Dr., Wonki Lee Dr., Emily M. Bonem, Benjamin C. Wiles, Jennifer D. Moss, Wilella D. Burgess, Weiling Li

International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

As colleges and universities increasingly transform their STEM courses through the adoption of more active, student-centered pedagogies, there is a growing need to understand the impact of these educational innovations on student outcomes. This study is conducted in the context of a university-wide faculty development and course redesign project, IMPACT (Instruction Matters, Purdue Academic Course Transformation). IMPACT supports faculty in implementing student-centered pedagogical practices and creating equitable and inclusive learning environments. This study focuses on a sequence of two introductory calculus courses (Calculus 1 and Calculus 2, hereafter CALC 1 and CALC 2) that were transformed as part of the …