Digital Commons Network^™

From Oral Traditions To Digital Screens: The Evolution Of Folklore In The Modern Age, Echo Padgett

Student Scholar Symposium

This research explores how folklore and oral traditions adapt within digital spaces, focusing on Native American Skinwalker narratives and Biblical parables. By exploring these stories’ transformation on modern platforms, we are able to see the impact of digital media on traditional storytelling. In Navajo mythology, Skinwalkers are individuals, typically male, who practice the Witchery Way, gaining the ability to transform into animals to cause harm and disrupt the natural order. However, modern media often portrays them as monstrous, alien-like creatures, stripping away their cultural significance. The rise of sensationalized narratives, such as those surrounding Skinwalker Ranch, further these misconceptions, linking …

Validating Dermal Corticosterone Swabs With Blood Assays In Green Frogs (Lithobates Clamitans), Emily Mcdavid

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Amphibian populations are declining globally due to numerous factors such as habitat disturbances, emergence of disease, and climate change. The stress caused by these factors can influence the endocrine system of affected individuals, resulting in changes in hormone levels associated with a “fight or flight” response. In amphibians, the primary stress hormone or glucocorticoid, corticosterone (CORT), is a quantitative marker of stress levels in the body. CORT is released into the bloodstream when faced with a stress event with the purpose of increasing the chance of survival. While the effects of corticosterone can aid in increasing survival during a stressful …

Population Characteristics Of Freshwater Turtles At Lake Hydaway, Joshua Sorenson, Ariana Cardenas, Tate Gardner

Liberty University Research Week

Freshwater turtles are an important part of the ecological systems in central Virginia. They are found throughout the state wherever there is a suitable body of water, often in large numbers. At Lake Hydaway, there are several turtle species for which their population characteristics were unknown after the lake’s area was expanded. These included the typically prolific Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta picta) and Red-bellied Cooter (Pseudemys rubriventris). For five weeks, a section of the lake was surveyed for turtles using hoop nets baited with sardines and vegetables, and the turtles were marked and measured and released back into the …

Challenges Of A Changing Environment: Urban Development Impacts A Population Of Eastern Box Turtles, Valerie Bell, Nathan Wilkins

Liberty University Research Week

The Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) is a terrestrial turtle, which lives in woodlands. Populations of these turtles are threatened by drastic changes to their environment, such as development projects. This is what happened to a population of box turtles in downtown Lynchburg, VA. We have been researching this population since 1999 using a capture-mark-recapture method. The population was undisturbed until 2020 when a large portion of the study site was timbered for urban development, reducing the size of the habitat from 11 to 2.2 ha. We hypothesize that if the population of box turtles in the post-development forest …

Evaluation Of Human Cadaver Tissue For Undergraduate Medical Histology Education, Levon Shukrian, Brooke Chapple, Shanice Rerrie

Liberty University Research Week

Histology is a foundational component of medical education, providing critical insights into tissue structure and function. While undergraduate biomedical sciences students traditionally use animal tissues for histological studies at Liberty University, this research explores the feasibility of using human cadaveric tissue to enhance undergraduate medical histology education. The research question guiding this study is: “Can human cadaver tissue serve as a viable and educationally valuable alternative to animal tissue in undergraduate histology education?” We hypothesize that cadaveric tissue will display preserved histological structures comparable to live tissue references, making it a useful educational tool. To test this hypothesis, testicular and …

Fluoxetine Reveals Nuances To Memory Task Interpretation In An Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Mouse Model, Maximiliano Pino, Rohaam Ooi

Liberty University Research Week

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a disease characterized by poor blood-glucose regulation. DM patients are 2x more likely to develop cognitive decline, depression, and anxiety. While research reliably reports cognitive dysfunction, preclinical studies have noted heightened freezing behavior in the fear conditioning test (FCT),which is traditionally indicative of improved memory. It is suggested that this is mediated by a depressive-like phenotype, whereby animals are expressing heightened reactivity to the negative stimuli, not improved memory. ​ Based off prior research, this study tested depression-mediated sensitivity to aversive stimuli using an antidepressant, fluoxetine (FLX), to modulate the relationship between FCT results and depressive-like …

Formalin-Induced Neuropathic Pain In Mice, David Mendes

Liberty University Research Week

Neuropathic pain is a chronic condition of the nervous system often associated with inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and chemotherapy-induced damage. Current therapies are ineffective, highlighting the need for improved preclinical models. Neuropathic pain in mice has been modeled using invasive procedures such as spinal nerve ligation (SNL) and chronic constriction injury (CCI), which require survival surgery. In contrast, this study investigates the use of subcutaneous formalin injection as a non-surgical, reproducible alternative for modeling chronic pain in mice. Formalin is known to produce a biphasic pain response and has been used to model nociceptive pain. Recent studies …

Volume 12 Complete Issue, James W. Gallagher

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 12 Complete Issue

An Epigraphic· Geography Or "Kilroy (Amongst Others) Was Here", George F. Carter

The Geographical Bulletin

Vigorous debate has raged virtually since Columbus' discovery of America over who the American Indians were, where they came from, how they got here, and what the source of their civilization was. Momentarily, consideration was given to their being a separate creation; not the descendants of the people of Genesis. The Pope settled that by stating firmly that the Indians were God's creatures just as surely as the Spanish and Portuguese were, and as such entitled to all the rights, duties, and privileges thereto appertaining as they say as they cap and gown you.

Domestic Violence Punishments In The Nfl, Jesse Lichti

Student Scholar Showcase

The way that professional athletes are punished for violent crimes is something that the leagues need to put an emphasis on. As media coverage has risen in regards to athletes being violent, specifically against women, the fans understanding of its severity has risen along with it. As currently constructed, the NFL allows for too much bias, lacks deterrence, and does not focus on helping the athletes. These are the main points that my presentation focus on. In the next CBA, something like my idea needs to be put into place. This can then be extended to all violent crimes in …

How Abraham Varghese’S Ecologies Begin The Healing Process In "The Covenant Of Water", Dominique Snedeker

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Timothy Morton’s ecological thought considers everything internal and external for the purpose of reframing thinking about the world and how we exist in it. When applied to literature, this ecological thought is the textual fabric of the work formed by the author’s intentions, everything unconsciously revealed as symptoms of the author’s social context, worldview, education, location, time, class etc., and all the ways readers respond to the internal literary ecosystems. Dense with ecologies, Abraham Varghese’s The Covenant of Water follows a family through the end of colonialism into the late twentieth century, a time of existential crisis for both the …

Climate Change Adaptation Through Economic Democracy, Shriraksha Mohan

Best Integrated Writing

Mohan investigates and combines three different areas of literature and social movements to discuss the problem of climate change and economic adaptation. The value of this work is that it can be used to communicate among three independent types of social movements and inquiries. This can strengthen and connect dispersed yet overlapping efforts in addressing work issues, resource utilization, economic governance and participation, and ecological problems economies face today.

The Squeeze, Sam Fletcher

Best Integrated Writing

In this short story, Sam Fletcher gives a glimpse into the world of Army Engineers. Through the lens of an outsider’s perspective, this story showcases the sometimes-tenuous relationship that accompanies working with ally forces during the global war on terror. While this story is a work of fiction, it mirrors the very real connections formed by exposure to danger and shared hardship. It is dedicated to the brave Engineers Fletcher served with who risked their lives to ensure the safety of others.

Volume 13 Complete Issue, James W. Gallagher

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 13 Complete Issue

The Impact Of Land Use On Wildlife Habitat, Dean Wilde

The Geographical Bulletin

The scope of biogeography includes, among other things, the analysis of the distribution and redistribution of biota as a result of a more or less purposeful and direct modification of the natural environment by man.! One aspect of human modification of natural environments has been the alteration and destruction of wi Idlife habitats. Wildlife is a product of the land.2 Different kinds of wildlife can occupy the land only so long as their required habitat types exist in a particular spatial arrangement. The maximum population of wildlife that any given unit of land can support, therefore depends on the interspersion …

Art And Enchantment: How Wonder Works By Patrick Curry, N. Trevor Brierly

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Patrick Curry has written extensively on Tolkien, art and enchantment, and Art and Enchantment is his most academic in nature on these subjects, and the most fully developed and detailed. Curry describes and analyzes both enchantment and disenchantment. He focuses on art, artists and artistic movements and whether they might be more, or less, conducive to enchantment. In particular he notes that modernism is largely hostile to enchantment.

J.R.R. Tolkien: A Very Short Introduction By Matthew Townend, Laura N. Van Dyke

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

St. Jack’S Experiment House For Juvenile Delinquents: Responding To Aslan’S Breath By Matthew Dickerson, Gabriel C. Salter

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Matthew Dickerson raises an important point in his latest book "Aslan's Breath: Seeing the Holy Spirit in Narnia" that Lewis offers a theologically problematic example of combating evil when his heroes terrorize the bullies at Experiment House at the end of The Silver Chair. Exploring Dickerson's point, and particularly how Lewis pairs vengeance with saitre in this scene, challenges readers to see that Lewis' work for children is often more transgressive than it appears, not unlike the concerns raised about Roald Dahl's vengeful punishment scenes. Extending the popular Dahl vs. Lewis discussion shows how they both may be read as …

Alan Garner’S Elidor: The “Anti-Narnian Fantasy”?, Laura N. Van Dyke

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

British fantasy writer Alan Garner has referred to his novel Elidor as "THE anti-Narnian fantasy," though he says this was done unconsciously. In this article, I explore why Garner positioned his work as the antithesis to C.S. Lewis's fantasy novels, and argue that in many ways it in fact complements rather than contradicts the vision Lewis conveys.

Book Culture And Narrative In Martin’S A Song Of Fire And Ice, Maria Damkjær

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

What do books represent in G.R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire? This article examines their role as objects and their limitations within a narrative obsessed with loss of knowledge. Books, which are handled, lost, found, read, or destroyed, are both a shorthand for a fantasy world’s material culture, but also a metafictional nod to the reality of the reader. Contemporary fantasy authors, I posit, are both fascinated by texts, and also troubled by their limited chance of survival over the very long periods that the genre tends to sketch. Deep time is hostile to book knowledge, and …

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Beowulf: Rowling’S Beowulfian Allusions, Analogues, And Inversions, Mark-Elliot Finley

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

In this essay, I suggest Rowling’s Goblet of Fire literarily echoes the Old English epic poem Beowulf, while simultaneously updating the medieval epic to reflect the novel’s place within the modernized, Christian-influenced fantasy tradition. While cursory popular links have been made between the Old English epic with Rowling’s novel, this essay presents a sustained dialogue between Beowulf and Goblet of Fire. Both heroes engage in one-to-one combat (Beowulf with Grendel and Harry with Voldemort), venture into an unknown watery abyss (Beowulf diving into Grendel’s mother’s underwater cave and Harry rescuing Ron and Gabrielle from the merpeople in Hogwarts’s …

Pandemic Mythmaking: Covid-19 And Mythological Symbolism In Indian Folk Art, Ishani Anwesha Joshi, Sathyaraj Venkatesan

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Through a comprehensive analysis of Durga Bai Vyam’s “Samura Manthan” and Rupsona and Bahadur Chitrakar’s “Corona Rakshasa,” this article aims to investigate how mythological stories and themes have been used in the Indian context in folk art during the COVID-19 pandemic. The investigation will offer insights into how artists have leveraged mythological symbolism to infuse their works with richer layers of meaning, thereby engaging readers in a deeper exploration of the pandemic’s impact on society and the human psyche. By close-reading the aforementioned paintings, this study aims to illustrate the evolving visual representation of cultural narratives …

Modelling The Fear Of God In C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles Of Narnia, Brett Roscoe

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This article employs insights from cognitive approaches to literature to study how The Chronicles of Narnia evoke a religious affect known in the Christian tradition as the “fear of the Lord.” It first does what Guillemette Bolens calls a "kinesic analysis" of the books, focusing on the gestures, movements, and facial expressions related to the fear of Aslan, and then it interprets this fear in the context of Rudolf Otto’s The Idea of the Holy, a book C. S. Lewis claims had a large influence on him. Lewis, like Otto, was concerned with religious experience, specifically with how his …

The Middle-(Un)Man Of Desire: A Girardian Reading Of Perelandra, Clinton Manley

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

The French polymath René Girard presents a compelling argument that all desire is mimetic. According to Girard, we don’t actually know what we want; instead, we imitate the desires of others. These models of desire act as mediators, indicating what objects or ways of being are worth pursuing. For Girard, desire exists in this middle place between a subject, a model, and an object. He famously argues that all great literature leverages an awareness of mimetic dynamics; the greater the work, the more mimetically perspicacious the author.

Given Girard’s theory, we would expect the greatest fantasy authors to erect their …

Divinity And The Void In Chinese And Thai Translations Of The Ainulindalë, Eric Reinders

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This article treats Chinese and Thai translations of the opening lines of the Ainulinalë, not to evaluate their fidelity to the original, but to explore the surplus meanings inherent in those languages. From a close reading of the first line emerge several new variations, including a new reading of the name Eru in Chinese, and a changed linguistic register of the Thai version. In each case there is some attempt to resolve the paradox of Eru as primal deity and Tolkien’s use of lower-case “he”—which one would expect to be “He.” Lacking capital letters, the Chinese and Thai translators use …

In Vivo Evaluation Of Cromolyn Sodium Topical Gels For The Treatment Of Atopic Dermatitis, Adela Adu Agyemang

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Cromolyn sodium (CS) is a mast cell stabilizer used for asthma and mastocytosis, with potential for treating atopic dermatitis (AD). Despite clinical support for its efficacy in AD, no commercial CS formulations are available. This study assessed the efficacy of a formulated CS gel for AD through in vivo testing in a mice model, comparing it to a topical corticosteroid. Two 4% CS gels were formulated using sodium oleate and sodium caprylate as enhancers. Hydroxypropyl cellulose (1.5%) was the gelling agent, and propylene glycol served as the base. In vitro permeation studies (24 h, porcine ear skin, 37°C) showed that …

Establishing A Mouse Model Of Post-Traumatic Epilepsy Using Video-Eeg-Ecg Monitoring, Raina Desai

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and permanent disability. Patients with TBI are at an increased risk of developing post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE), and it has been estimated that PTE may account for up to 20% of symptomatic epilepsy cases in the general population. The process of epileptogenesis is defined as the mechanism by which a brain insult starts a cascade that culminates in the development of spontaneous seizures. Following TBI, the occurrence of seizures has been categorized as immediate (< 24 h), early (days), or latent (weeks). These immediate and early seizures are considered to reflect the severity of the injury itself, whereas the latent seizures are thought to result from maturation of epileptogenic pathology. The specific objective of this pilot study was to establish a protocol for video-EEG-ECG of mice following TBI to determine latent PTE development. Mice underwent surgery and EEG-ECG electrodes were placed immediately prior to TBI via controlled cortical impact. We initially chose 2 depth levels of injury (1mm and 1.5mm). We determined that 1.5 mm led to a high mortality rate, leading us to proceed with 1 mm. Currently, we have detected (and verified) seizures in two of four mice at 4 weeks post injury. An additional 8 mice have been EEG analyzed, with potential seizures detected via EEG in five out of eight (awaiting verification). We found that there was post-ictal Atrial-Ventricular block in one mouse. We also observed large fluctuations in heart rate during seizure free periods. Further analysis of ECG recordings is ongoing. Overall, our goal is to establish a 50-60% PTE development rate in our model for future applications. Our findings on ECG abnormalities mimic those observed in other models of epilepsy, suggesting that neuro-cardiac interactions in TBI warrant deeper investigation.

International Animal Law, Daina Bray, Paula Cardoso, Jessica Chapman, Hira Jaleel, Rajesh K. Reddy, Joan Schaffner

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

Export Controls And Economic Sanctions, John Boscariol, Sylvia Costelloe, Abigail Cotterill, Mary Mikhaeel, Timothy O'Toole, Christopher Stagg, Lawrence Ward

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.