Digital Commons Network^™

Burdens Of Proof In Criminal Procedure, Eve Brensike Primus

Articles

The Supreme Court’s haphazard approach to allocating burdens of proof in criminal procedure has created a system in which constitutional rights can be rendered meaningless simply because defendants are required to prove things they cannot possibly know. Even though allocations of the burden of proof often drive litigation outcomes, the Court has failed to establish clear burden allocation structures for cases arising under the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments, leaving lower courts split about how to allocate the burdens. When the Supreme Court does allocate burdens, it often does so without explanation or consideration of key factors. Recent Supreme …

The Expanse: Exploring Comparative Mythology In The Mediterranean Through Video Game Development, Michael A. Davis

Senior Theses

This web application, titled The Expanse, explores the arguments surrounding comparative mythology, specifically regarding those in the Mediterranean region. The Expanse is a turn-based role-playing game using the characters and gameplay format of the Shin Megami Tensei video game series. The game depicts the conflict between comparativists and particularists using mythological characters, creating situations in which the player takes sides in a debate that permeates the real world. This story seeks to inform players of the subjective nature of sciences by tying moral dilemmas into an overarching metanarrative specific to comparative mythology.

Fit For Success: Exploring Physical Activity Promotion And Effects On Students At The University Of South Carolina Through A Podcast Series, Maia Schwarzmueller

Senior Theses

College students face unique challenges when trying to maintain physical activity levels, such as time constraints, stress, and lack of proper facilities. The Fit for Success podcast will explore how physical activity is a powerful tool towards enhancing self-perception, academic success, and stress management as well as delve into the specific barriers that University of South Carolina students face to physical activity. The podcast will also explore different aspects of physical activity promotion including group fitness, competition, and built environment. The goal of the podcast is to help students to see physical activity as an important component of many facets …

Wrack Lines Volume 25, Number 2, Fall-Winter 2025-2026, Nancy Balcom

Wrack Lines

Fall-Winter 2025-2026 issue of Wrack Lines explores 40 years of stewardship for Long Island Sound now and into the future, the work of the Long Island Sound Partnership, a pilot project using a new type of diving helmet to broadcast from undersea locations, a survey of public perceptions of the Sound, the life and legacy of former CT Sea Grant Director Edward Monahan, and the aspirations and reflections of recently retired CT Sea Grant Associate Director Nancy Balcom and her successor Jess Brandt.

Computational Dataset Of Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium-Anion Complex Structures And Simulated Infrared Spectra, Arun K. Sharma, Owen Mcmillan

Biology, Agriculture and Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

This dataset presents computationally derived geometries and vibrational spectra of cetyl trimethyl ammonium ion pairs formed with three environmentally and chemically relevant anions: bisulfate, nitrate, and methyl sulfonate. Data were obtained using quantum chemical calculations performed using the Gaussian 16 software package, utilizing the ONIOM method at the second-order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) level. To account for solvent effects and electrostatic screening, calculations incorporated an implicit solvent environment via the polarizable continuum model (PCM). The dataset includes optimized geometric coordinates, harmonic vibrational frequencies, and simulated infrared (IR) spectra for each cetyl trimethyl ammonium-anion pair. Additional computational details, including input parameters, …

Closing The Gap Between Students With And Without Individualized Education Plans, Mikayla Herron

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The achievement gap between students with and without individualized education programs continues to be a concern in early childhood education. Finding strategies and interventions that help narrow this gap is important, especially when children are young and the gap is still relatively small. This inquiry-based research study explored the use of the AI tool Buddy.ai to determine whether it could support preschool-aged students with IEPs in improving early learning skills. The study also considered general education teachers’ experiences working to close the achievement gap in inclusive classrooms. A mixed-methods approach was used. Quantitative data were collected through pre- and post-assessments, …

Trickle-Down Coordination: The National Security Advisor’S Role As The Strategic And Operational Planner Of The Dod-Dos Interagency Relationship, Fabio S. Van Loon

Journal of Strategic Security

Forging a coherent U.S. foreign policy requires the competent management of the inter-agency framework. Defining strategy at the cabinet level and ensuring its implementation at the operational level, the National Security Advisor must act as an honest broker of the inter-agency process. This article will examine the role of three National Security Advisors from the Nixon, Carter and George W. Bush administrations, and study two examples of operational success and failure, highlighting the importance of the strategic-operational link. The author concludes by recommending a National Security Council (NSC)-led inter-agency framework that drives consensus-based strategic planning and mandates operational coordination through …

Detecting Drone Threats At Stadiums And Public Venues: Overview, Operational Considerations, And Technical Implementation, Nathan P. Jones, John P. Sullivan, George W. Davis Jr.

Journal of Strategic Security

This article overviews the issue of drone threats to stadiums and public venues. It provides emergency managers and those defending this critical infrastructure with an overview, operational considerations, and a discussion of the technical implementation for defending these sites from drone threats through detection. It provides a discussion of the current limitations of countermeasures and legal frameworks relevant to drones. Throughout, this article uses real drone detection data from the Astroworld concert incident (November 2021) as a notional case study to illustrate the type of drone detection data emergency managers will contend with and what can be gleaned from it. …

Friends Of The Hilton M. Briggs Library, Fall 2025, Hilton M. Briggs Library

Friends of the Hilton M. Briggs Library Newsletters

Volume 11, Issue 1.

Features:
A brand-new collection: SD Livestock brand books span 130 years
Elizabeth Fox Named South Dakota Librarian of the Year
Notes from the Dean of the Library
Student Assistant Excellence Award Recipients
Archives launches Adopt a Collection program
Briggs Library Wish List
Lisa Lindell honored for outstanding scholarship
Grants benefit Archives collection and promote affordable learning

Keepin' Up With Popular Culture, David Arditi

Mavs Open Press Open Educational Resources - Archive

In Keepin’ Up with Popular Culture, Dr. David Arditi introduces students to popular culture as a way to view and understand society, politics, and culture. This book demonstrates to students the overall importance of popular culture in their lives. It explores the ways that language is used (and the way that we use language) to construct the world around us through popular culture.

To view the original version of this book, please go to its Pressbooks site: Keepin' Up with Popular Culture.

Part 4: Epilogue, Corey Brady, Luis Moreno-Armella

The Mathematics Enthusiast

In closing our set of of articles, we reflect back on the nature of mathematical thinking and learning with representations, especially the computational, executable representations that are enabled by modern dynamic mathematics environments. These aspects of the development of mathematical ideas have profound implications for our approaches to the teaching and learning of Calculus. Our narrative approach has dramatized the radically fruitful and generative nature of the period during which the ideas of Calculus were stabilized (especially in the stories of Guillermo/Leibniz and Leonardo/Euler). An analogy between the development of the field and the development of individual learners, should caution …

The Mystical Kitchen: Feminist Magic And Alchemical Transformation In The Work Of Lenora Carrington, Theresa Burwell

Theses

This thesis analyzes the inherent feminism in alchemical and magical symbolism, particularly in representations of kitchens in the art and writing of Leonora Carrington. The kitchen has historically been viewed as a gendered space for domestic work. By subverting cultural and religious conventions, Carrington’s kitchen becomes a site for transmutation and feminine ritual. Using feminist discourse, formal art historical analysis, and the history of alchemical symbolism, this thesis asserts that Carrington’s imagery transforms the kitchen from an oppressive domestic space to a mystical laboratory of feminine power. A thorough analysis of Grandmother Moorhead’s Aromatic Kitchen (1975) and The House Opposite …

Immersive Art, Nature, And Afrofuturism: Cultivating Wellness And Cultural Awareness, Jojo Abenaavi Wright

Theses

This research demonstrates how Afrofuturistic art, combined with nature and scent, enables powerful methods to transform African Diaspora perceptions and support holistic wellness through sensory-emotional engagement. The project introduces The Next Narrative: An Immersive Journey Through Black Time as a multisensory immersive exhibition that combines Afrofuturistic aesthetics with Harlem Renaissance cultural elements. The exhibition presents salons as a sequence that allows visitors to experience time through visual, sonic, and atmospheric transitions. The three senses of touch, scent, and sound operate as fundamental tools for grounding and transformation, which disable analytical thinking while using bodily experiences to perform decolonial memory work. …

Update On Novel, Validly Published, And Included Bacterial Taxa Derived From Nondomestic Animals And Taxonomic Revisions Published In 2024, Claire R. Burbick, Sara D. Lawhon, Trinity Krueger, Elena Ruiz-Reyes, Mallory Lenmark, Ayden Wisney-Leonard, Erik Munson

Clinical Lab Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Description of new and revised taxa originating from non-domestic animal species continues to be pursued. The majority are bacteria isolated from the alimentary system of a variety of healthy wildlife, adding to our understanding of microbial flora present in the normal state. A few new and revised taxa are associated with disease, including a novel Erysipelothrix species associated with sepsis in albatross and a revised species, Allocoenonia anatina comb. nov., associated with Riemerella anatipestifera-like disease in ducks and geese. Representative bacteria from genera that are additionally under study for the remediation of pollutants and bacteria that are related to …

Culturally Sustaining Practices For Advanced Multilingual Adult Esol Students, Benjamin F. C. King

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

King, B. (2025)

Culturally Sustaining Practices for Advanced Multilingual Adult ESOL Students

Advanced multilingual ESOL learners need safe and positive learning environments that are responsive to their needs. This project seeks to answer how an adult English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) curriculum can be adapted using an emergent curriculum approach to be more culturally sustaining. As a white teacher with many privileges, I know the content and language skills I teach will never perfectly match the interests, desires and needs of all my students. Nonetheless, through the process of investigating culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP), I have identified …

Utilizing Best Practices In The Classroom In Regards To Technology Use, Kathryn Robinson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this capstone project is: “In what ways do best practices in technology use in the classroom support teachers and students?” During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools were forced to shift online to protect student health. As schools have returned to in-person learning, the influx of technology has not decreased. Studies show that technology use, whether it be social media, screen time, TV, or videogames can be detrimental to brain development. Because of this, it is crucial that there are guidelines for best practice when using technology in the classroom. Further, healthy habits surrounding technology use outside …

Plants, Land, And Ojibwe Nations In The Adult English Language Classroom, Azul Kmiecik

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

As an English language teacher in Minnesota, I have had many immigrant and refugee learners express a desire to understand the peoples, cultures, and histories of their new homes. As a settler colonist in Minnesota, I have an ethical obligation to counter the erasure of Indigenous peoples within our educational institutions and to grapple with the legacies of settler colonialism. These two threads come together in a project designed to respond to the question: How can land-based education and centering the voices of Native peoples be used to design lessons that foster adult ELLs’ reflection on Ojibwe nations’ unique relationships …

Integrating Environmental Education: A Continuing Professional Development For Minnesota Educators In Weaving Local Indigenous Knowledge Systems And Western Science, Sarah Genet

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

As of 2021, Minnesota’s updated academic standards in science for all grade levels include local Indigenous cultures, histories, and perspectives. The Minnesota Department of Education provides limited content and professional development guiding the implementation of these requirements, leaving educators to design and update their curriculum with little formal guidance. This capstone explores integrating Indigenous and Western knowledge systems to help answer the research question: ‘What must be included in environmental education curriculum interwoven with Indigenous and Western perspectives in science to provide a holistic learning experience?’ This capstone presents continuing professional development designed for upper-level secondary science and environmental educators …

Outdoor Trail Use At Woodland Elementary School For Student Engagement With Mn Life Science Standards, Barbara Walswick

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This paper examines use of the unpaved trails at Woodland Elementary School for student engagement with the third grade MN life science curriculum standards. At this time, the nature resource behind the school is underused. Research on benefits of outdoor learning for elementary students and staff was conducted and noted, resulting in the Woodland Trail Guide project. It serves as a life science curriculum companion for educators to easily take their students on the trails for increased student engagement. It gives educators experience and confidence to optimize the trails in teaching their science lessons and serves as a catalyst to …

Advice To Christian Philosophers, Forty Years Later, Christian B. Miller, Meghan Sullivan, Devin Gouvêa, Gregory Robson, Matthew Frise, Philip Swenson

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.

The Paradox Of The Person As A Natural Sign Of God, Chad Engelland

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.

God And Value, Julien Beillard

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.

Rev-Erbα Regulates Brain Nad+ Levels And Tauopathy Via An Nfil3-Cd38 Axis, Jiyeon Lee, Ryeonghwa Kang, Sohui Park, Ibrahim O Saliu, Minsoo Son, Jaymie R Voorhees, Julie M Dimitry, Elsa I Quillin, Brian V Lananna, Young-Ah Goo, Guoyan Zhao, Erik S Musiek, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD

Mapping The Geographic Distribution Of Dimorphic Mycoses Using A Us Commercial Insurance Database, Reid Goodman, Adriana M Rauseo, Samuel L Windham, Julio C Zuniga-Moya, William G Powderly, Andrej Spec, Patrick B Mazi

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The dimorphic mycoses (DMs) histoplasmosis, blastomycosis, and coccidioidomycosis are classically thought to be geographically restricted to specific regions of the United States. The current scientific consensus is that these geographic boundaries are expanding, but the extent of this expansion remains uncertain.

METHODS: This study is a retrospective analysis of >21 million (annually) commercially insured individuals within the United States during 2007-2016. Diagnosis of histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis, and blastomycosis were identified using

RESULTS: There were 37 513 histoplasmosis, 14 987 coccidioidomycosis, and 2207 blastomycosis diagnoses during 2007-2016 within 387 Metropolitan Statistical Areas. DMs were consistently diagnosed outside their historical hyperendemic regions. …

Molecular Dynamics Of The Host Response To Streptococcus Pneumoniae Pneumonia In Baboons, Bryan D Kraft, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Bacterial pneumonia remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide despite the widespread availability of antibiotics. Novel pneumonia therapies and biomarkers are urgently needed to improve outcomes and advance personalized therapy. Using an established baboon model of S. pneumoniae pneumonia, we sought to characterize the temporal dynamics of pneumonia host responses to identify novel potential diagnostic and therapeutic molecular targets.

METHODS: We performed whole blood transcriptomics, unbiased proteomics, and peripheral cytokine measurements serially in baboons inoculated with S. pneumoniae (n = 23) or saline (n = 10) and modeled the peripheral blood host response using principal components analysis …

Chimeric Antigen Receptor Natural Killer (Car-Nk) Cells: From Preclinical Promise To Clinical Reality In Cancer Immunotherapy, Hunter Cassidy Cochran, Kevin Ashkan Ghobadi, Armin Ghobadi

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cell therapy represents an emerging frontier in cancer immunotherapy. CAR-NK cells offer the potential for "off-the-shelf" treatments with a favorable safety profile, due in part to their innate capacity for HLA-unrestricted tumor targeting and an absence of graft-versus-host disease. Landmark clinical studies using cord blood - derived CAR-NK cells and another employing iPSC-derived CAR-NK cells have reported impressive response rates, durable remissions, and minimal toxicity. Furthermore, a growing landscape of ongoing clinical trials is exploring innovative strategies to enhance persistence, overcome solid tumor challenges, and prevent antigen escape. These advances collectively underscore the …

Recent Advances In The Identification And Quantification Of Xylazine And Medetomidine In Biological Specimens, Bridgit O Crews

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Xylazine is a veterinary sedative that is frequently detected in the illicit drug supply, often found mixed with illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF). It has been detected in the blood of overdose victims and patients who use illicit drugs. Xylazine is not approved for use in humans. It is an alpha-2-adrenergic receptor agonist that causes deep sedation that is non-responsive to naloxone, the antidote for opioid overdose. Chronic exposure to xylazine has been linked to severe wounds that can progress to amputation. Medetomidine is another related veterinary sedative that has more recently emerged as an adulterant in IMF. Medetomidine is also …

Family Income And Polygenic Scores Are Independently But Not Interactively Associated With Cognitive Performance Among Youth Genetically Similar To European Reference Populations, S E Paul, N M Elsayed, S M C Colbert, R Bogdan, A S Hatoum, D M Barch

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Cognitive abilities are heritable and influenced by socioeconomic status (SES). It is critical to understand the association between SES and cognition beyond genetic propensity to inform potential benefits of SES-based interventions and to determine if such associations vary across (i) cognitive domains, (ii) facets of SES, and/or (iii) genetic propensity for different aspects of cognition. We examined the contributions of neighborhood socioeconomic advantage, family income, and polygenic scores (PGS) for domains of cognition (i.e., general cognitive ability, executive function, learning and memory, fluid reasoning) in a sample of children (ages 9-10;

Peroxisomal Metabolism Of Branched Fatty Acids Regulates Energy Homeostasis, Xuejing Liu, Anyuan He, Dongliang Lu, Donghua Hu, Min Tan, Parniyan Goodarzi, Bilal Ahmad, Brian Kleiboeker, Brian N Finck, Mohamed Zayed, Jonathan R Brestoff, Ali Javaheri, Fong-Fu Hsu, Clay F Semenkovich, Irfan J Lodhi, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Brown and beige adipocytes express uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), a mitochondrial protein that dissociates respiration from ATP synthesis and promotes heat production and energy expenditure. However, UCP1

A Modification To The Brand Transfer For Claw Hand: The Four-Tailed Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis To Lateral Band Transfer, Lauren E Wessel, Nirbhay S Jain, Ambika E Paulson, Carrie Bettlach, Mitchell A Pet, Amy M Moore

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Claw deformity is a devastating consequence of low ulnar nerve palsy, resulting in loss of finger function. Traditionally, the Brand transfer is a favored intervention but requires lengthy grafts and bulky tenorrhaphies, risking adhesions in the lumbrical canal. We present a modified Brand tendon transfer, which extends the extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) into 4 tails for individual grafting into the lateral band, decreasing adhesion risk and graft length need.

METHODS: Nine consecutive patients with claw hand were examined in detail to confirm the diagnosis and appropriateness for claw-correction surgery by the senior author. All patients underwent our modified …