Digital Commons Network^™

Meta-Analysis On The Effect Of Tai Chi Chuan On Human Biomechanics And Health From (2021–2025), Bijad S. Alqahtani, Husam A. Almalki

Saudi Medical Journal

Objective: Prior reviews emphasize overall health outcomes of Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) but rarely resolve the biomechanical intermediates (such as Center of Mass (CoM)–Center of Pressure (CoP) control, joint loading) that link practice to clinical function—knowledge that matters for balance, fall risk, and osteoarthritic knee load management. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to test the null hypothesis that TCC produces no improvement versus comparators in (i) biomechanical stability indices (mediolateral/anterior–posterior CoM–CoP separation; COP Root Mean Square RMS) and (ii) related clinical functions (such as Time up and go (TUG), Berg balance scale (BBS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis …

Developmental Dysplasia Of The Hip In Saudi Arabia And The Gulf Countries: A Genetic Systematic Review Study, Naif Z. Alrashdi, Ahmed M. Almansour, Azfar Jamal

Saudi Medical Journal

Objective: To describe the available research on genetic determinants with special emphasis on the developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), in Saudi Arabia and Gulf nations, with reference to the genetic variants, family trend, and environmental factors. Methods: The literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Saudi Digital Library and Google Scholar through a broad literature search since the beginning of the databases until 2023. Studies that conducted in Saudi Arabia or Gulf countries which evaluated the relationships of genetic factors in DDH were included. Case reports, conference abstracts, and studies that did not …

Exploring Translational Medical Research Progress In G20 Countries: 5-Year Study, Hana A. Alhumud, Fars K. Alanazi, Edward B. Devol

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: Biomedical research is crucial for advancing medical knowledge and improving public health. However, the research process is often disjointed and lacks seamless progression, leading to delays and missed opportunities. To address this, the concept of translational research has emerged, focusing on the smooth transition of research results to the next stage of inquiry. Methods: This study analyzed approximately 40,000 research publications from the Web of Science database to identify research activities associated with translational research. Publications from Group of 20 (G20) countries over the past 5 years were examined to explore patterns of research focus and progress in this …

Escherichia Coli Concentrations In Sand And Water At Tributary-Influenced Lake Michigan Beaches, Josie Elaine Kuhlman

Masters Theses

Contamination of public recreational water and sand is a human health concern, creating a management challenge for public health officials. Past research has shown that Escherichia coli can persist in sediment and can be washed into recreational water. Currently, beach monitoring practices only utilize E. coli concentrations in water samples to determine beach safety and do not consider potential exposure to sediment/sand concentrations. In this study, I investigated the relationship between E. coli concentrations in water and sand samples, which will aid public health officials in making more informed decisions about beach closures. I utilized culture-based measurements of E. coli …

Vocabulary Knowledge Within Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Hannah A. Lord

Masters Projects

Young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are consistently experiencing a “definitional gap”, where they are able to process vocabulary breadth within labeling but are unable to comprehend text due to the lack of vocabulary depth. The four week vocabulary unit titled “Our World in Words” is created to bridge the gap between vocabulary breadth and depth for first graders. Research in Dual Coding Theory and Cognitive Load Theory provides insight into the use of stable visual anchors with orthographic facilitation, which allows for the disregard of auditory processing, along with an overloaded cognitive load. This framework includes four important …

Methodologies For Encouraging Creative Expression Within The Curriculum, Ian D. Martzke

Masters Projects

Many students struggle to find creative expression within the school curriculum. Indeed, since the 1990s we have seen a rise in average IQ but a reduction in scores through the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking (TTCT) (Kim, 2011). In the course of this project several methodologies for creative problem solving will be described and several lessons will be described that will both explain and model these methodologies of creative problem solving. These lessons will utilize the creative process (Wallas, 1926) and be written to include student choice (Hogan et al. 2020) specifically, within the instructional framework known as Teaching for …

Indigenous Ontologies And Architecture, Reconstructing Interrelational Relationships, Arlene Garcia Guzman

McNair Summer Research Program

Contemporary architecture faces a growing pressure to respond to the socioecological crises with regard to the consequences of design that so often accept environmental systems as separate from the living. In contrast, many Native systems, often referred to as Traditional Knowledge (TK), comprehend cumulative, place-based bodies of knowledge that are developed through extended histories of interaction with specific environments. In this context, Traditional Knowledge encompasses resource use practices, sustainability, spirituality, and an emphasis on a relational worldview. It is characterized in such a framework that different layers of existence, such as humans, animals, plants, water, climate, and materials, are understood …

South Asian Literature In Focus: A Review Of Nation And Nationalism In South Asian Literature, Amine Oudghiri

Critical Humanities

This is a book review.

States Strip Local Governments Of Authority To Govern Causing Some Rural Communities To Suffer, Terence J. Centner

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The New Parens Patriae, Meredith Johnson Harbach

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Against First Amendment Traditionalism, Jacob M. Schriner-Briggs

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Centering As Contemplative Inquiry And Practice: Teaching, Learning, And Living In The Anthropocene, Jennifer L. Schneider

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

The Anthropocene may be an inescapable trap—one unwittingly shaped by human ways of relating to self, others, and the more-than-human world. While dominant discourses surrounding this epoch often evoke fear, apocalypse, or blame, how might it also invite us, as humans, into an opportunity for more holistic and contemplative education. This paper explores “centering,” a contemplative concept and practice introduced by curriculum theorist James Macdonald (1995), as a regenerative way of engaging with the Anthropocene through lived experience. Drawing from research on a graduate-level place-based course and an arts-based, pragmatic inquiry, I explore how centering can foster attunement to place, …

Anatomy Of Success: Unveiling Key Resources For A Stand-Alone Occupational Therapy Anatomy Course, Annika Knuth, Sophia Wilkes, Julia Huber, Graci Leineberg, Rebecca Ozelie

Student Journal of Occupational Therapy

Anatomy is a complex curriculum involved in occupational therapy education. This study aimed to investigate occupational therapy (OT) students’ perceived usefulness of resources offered in a stand-alone anatomy course within their program. A survey was administered to 284 OT students enrolled in accredited programs who had completed a stand-alone anatomy course. The survey assessed the resources available, their usage, and the perceived benefit to students' learning. Results indicated that open labs and teaching assistants were perceived as the most valuable resources for student success, while print/electronic textbooks and office hours were perceived as the least beneficial. These findings suggest that …

Transcriptomic Profiling Of The Donkey Endometrium Reveals Dynamic Molecular Transitions Across The Estrous Cycle, Limeng Shi, Shuaishuai Wu, Mingyue Zhao, Wenhao Zhou, Abd Ullah, Muhammmad F. Akhtar, Changfa Wang, Muhammad Z. Khan, Ying Han

The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine

The endometrium undergoes extensive cyclical remodeling essential for reproductive success; however, the molecular mechanisms governing these processes in donkeys (Equus asinus) remain poorly characterized. To address this gap, we performed high-throughput RNA sequencing on endometrial tissues collected from Dezhou donkeys (n = 16) at four post-ovulation stages: Day 0 (ovulation), Day 3 (early luteal), Day 7 (mid-luteal), and Day 18 (late luteal/pre-luteolysis). Differential gene expression analysis, Gene Ontology enrichment, and KEGG pathway mapping were conducted to characterize temporal transcriptomic dynamics. We identified 2,474, 6,548, and 1,288 differentially expressed genes in Day 0 versus Day 3, Day 0 versus …

Adaptive Phishing Url Detection Using Hybrid Fuzzy C-Means Clustering And Xgboost, Muntadher Mohammed Kareem, Rawaa I. Farhan

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Phishing attacks continue to evolve in sophistication, rendering static detection methods increasingly ineffective. Existing URL-based approaches suffer from limited adaptability to emerging phishing patterns, mislabeled training data, and insufficient validation protocols. This paper proposes a hybrid phishing URL detection system that integrates Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering with XGBoost classification, enhanced by a novel Micro Adaptive Feature Extractor (MAFE). The system employs a multi-stage pipeline: feature engineering generating 36 statistical and interaction features, MAFE producing 15 adaptive features through class-aware dynamic weighting, micro-pattern detection, and entropy analysis, and FCM with K=2 clusters providing soft membership features to XGBoost. A two-pass confidence-based …

Ai-Enhanced Fluorescein Angiography Detection Of Diabetes-Induced Silent Retinal Capillary Dropout And Rna-Seq Identification Of Pre-Symptomatic Biomarkers, Yiyan Peng, Huishi Toh, Dennis Clegg, Peng Jiiang

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

Objective: Retinal capillary dropout, characterized by acellular capillaries or "ghost vessels," is an early pathological sign of diabetic retinopathy (DR) that remains undetectable through standard clinical imaging techniques until visible morphological changes, such as microaneurysms or hemorrhages, occur. This study aims to develop a non-destructive artificial intelligence (AI)-based method using fluorescein angiography (FA) images to detect early-stage, silent retinal capillary dropout.

Methods: We utilized 94 FA images and corresponding destructive retinal capillary density measurements obtained through retinal trypsin digestion from 51 Nile rats. Early capillary dropout was defined as having an acellular capillary density of >= 18 counts per mm2. …

Maternal Microchimerism As A Mechanism Of Developmental Origins Of Health And Disease, Amy M. Boddy, Kristine J. Chua

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

The in utero environment is now widely recognized as a critical determinant of health across the entire lifespan. The developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) framework has established that prenatal exposures, including maternal stress, infection, nutrition, and environmental toxins, can impact fetal development in profound ways associated with disease risk from infancy to old age. Yet a fundamental aspect of pregnancy, the bidirectional exchange of maternal and fetal cells, DNA, and other biological material, a phenomenon known as microchimerism, has received little attention in this context. Maternal cells and genomic material transfer to the developing fetus early in utero …

Continuous Process Intensification For Rare Earth Element Adsorption, Kyle Madill

Honors Theses

A continuous flow resonant vibratory adsorption swing reactor was designed to facilitate adsorption interactions between biochar and rare earth elements in a slurry or aqueous solution. A continuous mixing vessel can allow operators to run a large quantity of material through the RVM in an automatic manner that requires little supervision. This will save the operators time and allow them to focus on other research tasks. The reactor that was built was designed to bolt into Resodyn Acoustic Mixers’ Lab Resonance Acoustic Mixer-II (LabRAM-II). A design with two stacked stages within the LabRAM-II’s acoustic enclosure was settled on. These stages …

"Help Me Live It The Way You Do": Grounding Singaporean Responses To The Rorschach Situation, Casey Y. Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary research on the Rorschach and culture is striking for the latter’s disappearance as a variable of significance (Meyer et al., 2015; Meyer et al., 2007; Mihura et al., 2013; Viglione & Hilsenroth, 2001). This erasure is chronicled and reproduced in the narratives of universal objectivity, of extensive international meta-analyses, of replications, of standardized norms (Ritzler, 2004; Smith et al., 2018; Smith et al., 2020; Weiner, 2004). A different story emerges, however, when we ask, how has culture disappeared? The proposed study is a multimethod qualitative analysis of Singaporean responses to the Rorschach, aimed at generating sensitive yet critical discourses …

Parents’ Perceptions Of Aai’S Effect On Social Interaction & Communication For Individuals With Asd And/Or Adhd​, Alexis E. Morris, Zeida Gutierrez

Summer 2026 OTD Capstone Symposium

This research study will investigate the impact of animal-assisted interventions (AAI) on social interaction and communication skills of children or young adults formally diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on self or parent/caregiver report.

Children with ASD and ADHD experience deficits in communication and social participation that limit engagement in meaningful childhood occupations and peer relationships, highlighting the need for alternative, motivating intervention approaches. Animal-assisted interventions may provide a supportive and engaging environment that promotes emotional regulation, joint attention, and social reciprocity, and communication by enhancing participation in daily occupations.

The hypothesis for this study …

2026-08-07 Agenda Booklet, Morehead State University. Board Of Regents.

Morehead State Board of Regents Agenda Books and Meeting Minutes

Agenda booklet for the Board of Regents meeting of August 7, 2026, held in Prestonsburg, which includes the meeting minutes of the meeting held on June 12, 2026.

Why Do We Need To Prove That Pigs Feel?, Aranza Vera-Espinoza, Nancy Harlet Esquivel-Marín

Animal Sentience

Birch's framework manages uncertainty but overlooks the likelihood that citizen panels have speciesist biases that reduce precaution to mere harm-management even in species that undoubtedly feel.

Waterfront Ecologies: Coastal Resilience And Urbanization In Cali-Baja Region, Agniya Seliuzhytskaya

McNair Summer Research Program

This research contributes to “Waterfront Ecologies,” a binational initiative addressing urbanization and climate change along the San Diego-Tijuana coastal area and watershed systems. By examining the threshold between land and water, this paper investigates the impacts of sea-level rise, coastal erosion, watershed contamination, and rapid urban development. The study employs a case-study methodology focused on coastal conditions within the Cali-Baja region. Through this framework, it reviews planning history, environmental reports, and past precedent studies. Methodologically, the project produces analytical drawings and comprehensive base maps that synthesize regional environmental systems, urban patterns, topography, hydrology, and infrastructure.

Preliminary findings reveal that post-colonial …

Gadolinium Deposition Concerns In Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Emily Tran

Radiologic Sciences

Purpose To examine how concerns about gadolinium deposition have influenced the use of macrocyclic versus linear contrast agents in magnetic resonance (MR) practice.

Method A structured literature review was conducted using AI-assisted research tools and academic databases to identify recent peer-reviewed original research articles related to gadolinium deposition and contrast agent use patterns in MR. Only studies published between 2020 and 2026 were included.

Results Recent research confirmed that gadolinium can accumulate in human tissues following contrast-enhanced MR examinations. Multiple studies demonstrated that linear gadolinium-based contrast agents are associated with greater levels of tissue retention compared with macrocyclic agents due …

Administrative And Clinical Impacts Of Theranostic Program Expansion In Nuclear Medicine, Karmela Kljajic Pascual

Radiologic Sciences

Purpose To synthesize current evidence on theranostic trials, nuclear medicine clinical workflow models, and organizational readiness, with a focus on how healthcare organizations and medical imaging leaders are adapting to the rapid expansion of theranostic services.

Method A comprehensive search was conducted across Scopus, PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar. Inclusion criteria required peer‑reviewed articles published between 2002 and 2026 addressing nuclear medicine leadership, theranostic implementation, workflow design, and organizational factors influencing theranostic program development. Exclusion criteria removed editorials, blog posts, and nonpeer‑reviewed sources.

Results Four major themes emerged: workforce and staffing demands, infrastructure and resource requirements, regulatory and administrative pressures, …

Walking Through History: Designing A Byu Women's History Walking Tour, Reese M. Rugg

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis appears in two parts. The first is an analysis where I present a brief literature review of women’s history and women in editing and publishing. I also discuss the creation process and methods of applying design principles to a copyfitted manuscript of a BYU women’s history walking tour. The second is the copyfit 176-page manuscript and book cover, created in InDesign and Photoshop.

This project represents a continuation of recent efforts to highlight women who have built BYU in a more equitable way. The purpose of this project is to highlight the discrepancies in women’s archival history and …

Exploring The Gaps And Opportunities For Development Of An Amr Educational Package For Higher Education. Project Dataset., Michael Dillon, Delphine Kayem, Thiru Vanniasinkam, Charlotte Cornbill, Muriel Dresen, Arya Gupta, Kristina Kadlec, Priyanka More, Afolake Atinuke Olanbiwoninu, Désirée Schaaf, Raju Sekar, Christina Stylianou

Faculty of Health Datasets

Anonymous cross-sectional survey of higher education educators worldwide teaching antimicrobial resistance (AMR) or related subjects. The dataset captures educators’ teaching experience, curriculum content, and resource needs to identify gaps in AMR education and support development of openly available teaching resources.

Development Of Minimalist Trifunctional Building Blocks For Chemical Biology Probe Synthesis, Luke E. Bohrer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 generated expectations that genomic information would accelerate the discovery of new protein drug targets and FDA-approved therapies. However, many small-molecule drug candidates continue to fail in clinical trials, and much of the human proteome remains undercharacterized in terms of structure, function, and disease relevance. Chemical tools are therefore essential for defining protein function, mapping protein interactions, and identifying disease-associated molecular mechanisms. Among these tools, small-molecule chemical probes provide a powerful strategy for connecting biological activity with target identification, functional analysis, and the development of effective therapies.

This dissertation describes the development …

Dialogic Communication Ethics As A Hopeful Response To Artificial Intelligence, Kristen Haldeman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the past five years, a new technology has dominated modern culture: artificial intelligence. With a multiplicity of ways to respond to this new environment, this dissertation situates a response to artificial intelligence by combining the media ecology and communication ethics perspectives. Media ecology explores historical roots and biases of technology to learn about their influence of humanity. A dialogic communication ethics seeks to find an opening for hope to emerge. Hope, grounded in the works of Jacques Ellul and the Christian tradition, offers a new rhetorical perspective by shifting focus away from technology and to our neighbor.

The Narrative In The Algorithm: Storytelling, World Literature, And The Smartphone, Chad Szalkowski-Ference

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I interrogate the role algorithms, artificial intelligence, and smartphone technology play in contemporary world literature. My analysis begins with the post-truth condition, which speaks to the contemporary era’s embrace of alternative facts, authoritarianism, and conspiratorial thinking. I draw on narrative theory and paradigms of world literature to show how “algorithmic reasoning” has led to a state of paranoid persecution. This reasoning has forged new collectivities across traditional borders. Additionally, I show that these new collectivities and new technologies have produced new narrative points of view: the algorithmic first- and third-person, allowing narratives to retain the intimacy and …