Digital Commons Network^™

Habitat Use And Selection Of Silver Carp In The Lower Wabash River System, Coy B. Blair

Masters Theses

The spatial ecology of non-native species in invaded systems remains relatively poorly understood despite the importance of suitable habitat in the success of invasion. Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix are a highly invasive non-native species with established populations throughout the Midwestern United States. Much research has focused on habitat use of bigheaded carp in large river systems, though invasion risk remains high in smaller systems, such as tributaries of the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. The Wabash River, a unique system in the Midwest, remains largely un-impounded and is comparable to many of the smaller riverine systems at risk of …

Women Spinning On The Edge: Finding And Redefining The “Spinster” In The Witches Of Discworld, Kathryn Ann Fitzmaurice

Masters Theses

The word “spinster” has undergone a series of evolutions over the past seven hundred years, first coined to describe the occupation of women engaged in the spinning of plant and animal fibers into thread and yarn in the Middle Ages and later a legal marital status designation used until the 21^st century. The connotation associated in social contexts became pejorative. This project’s tracing of the word spinster is used to set up the broader scope looking at how the spinster can be viewed as an archetype, what we can learn through the lenses of gender and feminist theory, and …

Chronic Sleep Fragmentation Differentially Affects Alzheimer’S Disease Pathology In Male And Female AppSaa Knock-In Mice, Margaret R. Hawkins, Haleigh R. Whitlock, Carrie E. Johnson, Teresa Macheda, Ma Kayla F. Cox, Madison G. Lapid, Kelly N. Roberts, Heather M. Hash, Esther G. Drinkard, Sridhar Sunderam, Bruce F. O’Hara, Michael P. Murphy, Marilyn J. Duncan, Adam D. Bachstetter

Biology Faculty Publications

Introduction: Sleep fragmentation often precedes Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis and represents a potential modifiable risk factor, especially among women who have higher prevalence of both sleep disorders and AD. Methods: This study investigated how chronic sleep fragmentation affects neuroinflammation and amyloid-beta (Aβ) accumulation in male and female APP^SAA knock-in mice, a physiologically relevant AD model expressing APP at normal levels. APP^SAA mice of both sexes (N=8/sex/strain, 8 months old) underwent either 5 weeks of chronic sleep fragmentation administered during the light phase using an automated sweeper system or undisturbed sleep. Sleep-wake patterns and circadian rhythms were monitored using …

Simpson's Tachytely Or Bradytely? The Importance Of Quantifying Rate Uncertainty, Rosana Zenil-Ferguson, Lee Hsiang Liow

Biology Faculty Publications

The spectacular variation in species forms and richness across space and time can be explored using sophisticated and powerful tools recently developed by evolutionary modellers. In this contribution, we ask if the classic ‘Simpsonian’ view of tachytelic (fast), horotelic (standard) and bradytelic (slow) diversification rates can be distinguished with currently available tools and data. A neglected topic here is the role that the uncertainty of diversification rate estimates plays, where the lack of in-depth uncertainty measures could hinder our ability to confidently suggest differences in speciation or extinction rates in any given comparison. We propose quantifying the relative uncertainty of …

“I Just Don’T Find It Interesting”, Jennifer L. Osterhage, Utku Caybas, Jaeyun Han, Ellen L. Usher

Biology Faculty Publications

Situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT) posits that students’ expectancies for success, task values, and perceived costs affect their performance in STEM courses. Less is known about how students’ majors and timing of course completion affect motivational processes. Using the SEVT framework, this study utilised a convergent mixed methods approach to investigate academic motivation among students (N = 646) who enrolled in introductory biology at a large public university. Survey data revealed that students majoring in Biology were more motivated than students from other majors, although academic major was not directly associated with final grade. Upper-level students reported significantly lower competence-related beliefs …

Seasonal Divergence In Reproductive Timing On The Verge Of Spring, Devraj Singh, Adam M. Fudickar, Ellen D. Ketterson

Biology Faculty Publications

Every year as spring approaches and day length increases, many birds begin to reproduce, an annual expression of seasonal phenology that requires physiological preparation. In species distributed over a broad geographic range, populations that breed at higher latitudes are often migratory and delay reproduction until later in the year as compared to those breeding at lower latitudes. Dark-eyed Juncos serve as an excellent model for understanding the timing mechanisms regulating population-level variation in seasonal reproductive responses. We compared two seasonally sympatric dark-eyed junco populations in early spring. One migrates (Junco hyemalis hyemalis) and breeds in Alaska and Canada, while the …

Adetope Peter Kiladejo Master Of Fine Arts, Peter Kiladejo

School of Art Graduate Exhibitions, Portfolios, and Theses

No abstract provided.

Assessing Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Abuse Liability Among People Who Smoke Cigarettes: Impact Of Device Characteristics, Nicotine Flux, And Flavor, Elizabeth Oluwapelumi Ogunleye

Theses and Dissertations

This clinical laboratory study utilizes subjective and behavioral economic measures to assess the abuse liability of own-brand cigarettes and six currently authorized ENDS products, examining how device characteristics, nicotine flux, and liquid flavor influence outcomes among adults who smoke cigarettes. Using a Latin-square-ordered, within-subject design, adults who smoke cigarettes (N = 30; N = 20 preferred menthol cigarettes) attended four clinical sessions: one to evaluate their own-brand cigarette and three to assess six NJOY ENDS products: 2.4% nicotine pods (~58 µg/s; tobacco and menthol flavor), 6% nicotine disposable products (~61-65 µg/s; tobacco and menthol flavor), and 5% nicotine pods (~118-123 …

Acute Effects Of Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Liquid Nicotine Form And Sweetener Among People Who Use Inhaled Tobacco Products, Mary A. Carrico

Theses and Dissertations

Research on tobacco product standards to limit the abuse liability of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has primarily focused on nicotine concentration and flavor. Other liquid characteristics, such as protonated nicotine ratio and sweetener additives, are less understood but may serve as regulatory targets. This clinical laboratory study examined the effects of ENDS protonated nicotine ratio and sweetener presence on nicotine delivery, use behavior, and subjective effects.

Thirteen participants completed four sessions that varied by protonated nicotine ratio (0:100 vs. 40:60 freebase to monoprotonated nicotine) and sweetener status (sweetened with 3 mg/mL ethyl maltol vs. unsweetened). Each session included a …

In Praise Of Dust, Hasler Gomez-Perez

Theses and Dissertations

A desire path is a physical manifestation of where a system has failed, but also where it has been refused, where a new path has been made. The wake exists in the post, it is not a singular, untethered event, but a subtle double entendre that lives in the post-death, but also in the pre-life—not a liminal limbo, but a superposition of dying and waking.

This collection was assembled and composed over the course of two years as I navigated my practice, myself, and others. Present here are my thoughts, my experiences, and in many ways my beliefs. IN PRAISE …

From Walking To Parkour: A Structured Survey Of Rl For Dynamic Skills In Legged Robots, Christopher Allred, Chandler Justice, Rosario Scalise, Yan Gu, Jonathan Clark, Mario Harper, Jason Pusey

Computer Science Student Research

This survey reviews recent advances in applying reinforcement learning (RL) to enable dynamic and ballistic motions in legged robots, including running, jumping, stair climbing, and parkour. Focusing on high-agility behaviors that challenge traditional control frameworks, we categorize foundational locomotion tasks and highlight the RL methods, such as Proximal Policy Optimization, curriculum learning, and hybrid model-based strategies that have proven effective. We discuss the key challenges in transferring learned policies to real-world robots, managing uncertainty, and integrating perception and proprioception. Drawing from over 150 recent works, we provide a structured taxonomy of objectives, algorithms, and platforms, and identify trends in simulation …

The New American Farmer – Extension Engagement With Urban Agriculture And Food Systems, Margaux S.C. Robinson, Kc V. Cunningham, Jeffery A. Young, Nicole D. Breazeale, Kenneth Jones, Julie Zimmerman

Sociology Faculty Publications

Extension's evolving role in urban food production will require intensive reflexivity and ongoing collaboration. Extension educators around the country have already made progress in engaging with both the social and horticultural sides of urban agriculture. Designed appropriately, urban food systems hold the potential for healthy food access, community and environmental resilience, and economic prosperity (Rangarajan & Riordan 2019). Moving forward, we offer recommendations for Extension staff to apply within their institutions and beyond. Specifically, we urge Extension to prioritize the following: 1) mediate the rural/urban dichotomy, 2) tackle structural and institutional power dynamics, and 3) intensify strategies for community resilience.

How To Remain A Stranger / Encountering, In A Basement, Hannah Rotwein

Theses and Dissertations

How to Remain a Stranger / Encountering, in a Basement consists of two parallel essays. On the lefthand side of the page, How to Remain a Stranger explores the ways that the legend of the Wandering Jew, the Tradescantia genus of plants, peddlers, and exile relate to my practice of collecting, sorting, and combining found objects. On the righthand side, Encountering, in a Basement describes my thesis exhibition at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. Focusing on the idea of the encounter, I detail the materials, considerations, and processes behind four of the ten sculptures in the …

Mutual Realm, Tyna Ontko

Theses and Dissertations

mutual realm is a container for my many meandering thoughts on speculative futures, present-day-truth-telling, and the everyday construction of histories. Informed by systems of belief and power that humans have created to grapple with the unknown, the writing illustrates how storytelling builds worlds, assigning value to things by inscribing them with desire. In parts fact and fantasy, sculpture is considered as a form of sorting, making known the ways in which my experience of living between publics whose methods for demarcating boundaries, communally agreed upon superstitions, and algorithms for assigning meaning have marked my unconscious and affect my daily trajectories. …

Strange World, Brooklin Grantz

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis work explores the intersections of masculine and feminine labors as they relate to the structure of domestic space. I utilize materials and processes akin to craft, construction and architecture, and domicile upkeep, noting what is shared between gendered and polarized fields while exploring uses of the grid in various instances as a structure to adhere to and antagonize: a binary. Highlighting the queerness and fluidity of materials and the similarities between seemingly disparate processes, I relate to the objects I make and alter through my own gender fluidity. I do not see masculinity or femininity as autonomous: the …

Imagine Being Free: Decolonizing Actor Training In University And Conservatory Programs, Hope R. Ward

Theses and Dissertations

While blackface is considered the first proper form of American theater, I want to consider how the auction of enslaved Africans functioned as the original form of American theater. The auction block acted as a kind of interactive performance in which enslaved bodies were surveilled and evaluated as a kind of spectacle. In many ways, the auction block inaugurated White viewing practices of the Black body that reverberated in the day-to-day practices of slavery and subsequent visual media like the refashioning of blackface minstrel tropes within contemporary entertainment (plays, television, film). In Imagine Being Free: Decolonizing Actor Training in University …

Utilization Of Golden Pennycress In Broiler Diets, Marley M. Knowles

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to evaluate performance in broiler chickens fed diets containing golden pennycress meal (GPCM), with and without a flavor additive. Golden pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) is a winter cover crop grown in the Midwest that is rising in popularity as a cash crop used for biofuel production. After oil is pressed out of the seeds, a meal remains that is usually discarded. Incorporation of this meal (23% protein, 15% fat) into feedstuffs for broilers would be an efficient way to make biofuel production more sustainable. In one study, Cornish Cross three-day-old chicks (n=12) were …

Enhancing Data Wrangling Efficiency Using Ai, Prajakta K. Pohare

Theses and Dissertations

Data wrangling is an important step in transforming raw data into the right format for the right analysis. Unfortunately, using the manual method can be drudgery and unreliable, not to mention error prone, especially with complex data sets. This study examines the role of AI in planning and organizing data wrangling tasks in the form of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) using an AI prioritizing tool. The research looks at how well and with how much breadth and flexibility the approach performs to deliver WBS prioritized tasks compared to a manually generated WBS prioritized tasks and deploy and test a …

Language Ideologies In Coloniality Contexts: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Of Efl Teachers’ Experiences And Perceptions On The Use Of Learners’ Language Repertoire As Assets For Teaching And Learning, Kountiala J. Some

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I examined how dominant language ideologies in language politics and policy shape the professional identity development and pedagogical practices of five English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Burkina Faso. The study sought to understand how these ideologies influence teachers’ beliefs and perceptions of multilingual pedagogical approaches, as well as possible pathways for deconstructing them to promote student-centered practices. The participants’ accounts revealed that their academic and professional identities were largely shaped by the belief that home languages hinder proficiency in French and English. They recalled with remorse their elementary school experiences, where speaking native languages …

Perspective On Alcohol-Induced Organ Damage Via Autophagy-Dependent Cellular Changes, Ahmed Bakheet, Murugadas Anbazhagan, Shirish Barve, Srinivasan Dasarathy, John Dickinson, Wen-Xing Ding, Terrence Donohue, Thiyagarajan Gopal, Anna Gukovskaya, Kusum K. Kharbanda, John J. Lemasters, Natalia A. Osna, Pal Pacher, Lucy Sloan, Luis F. Vilches, Viswanathan Saraswathi, Xiao-Ming Yin, Zhi Zhong, Paul G. Thomes

Journal Articles: Internal Medicine

Alcohol-induced organ damage is a major global health concern and a leading cause of disability and mortality. In addition to the liver, chronic alcohol consumption adversely affects multiple organ systems, including the cardiovascular and neuromuscular systems, the gastrointestinal tract, adipose tissue, kidneys, pancreas, and the brain. Organ damage begins with necrosis (cell death) followed by tissue injury, which triggers immune responses aimed at tissue repair. However, with continued heavy drinking, these reparative responses transition into inflammatory responses which exacerbate tissue injury and accelerate disease progression. Macroautophagy, commonly referred to as autophagy, is a vital and evolutionarily-conserved digestive process in eukaryotic …

Antibiotic Alternatives And Next-Generation Therapeutics For Salmonella Control: A One Health Approach To Combating Antimicrobial Resistance, Mohamed Saleh, Ashutosh Verma, Khaled A. Shaaban, Yosra A. Helmy

Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

The growing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance has significantly compromised the efficacy of conventional antibiotic-based interventions in controlling Salmonella infections across human and veterinary settings. This growing challenge necessitates a strategic rethinking of pathogen control, prompting the integration of next-generation therapeutics capable of disrupting Salmonella pathogenesis through novel, antibiotic-sparing mechanisms. In this context, a diverse array of emerging alternatives, including bacteriophages, antimicrobial peptides, probiotics, prebiotics, short-chain fatty acids, nanoparticles, and host-directed immunomodulators, have gained prominence as a promising frontier in non-antibiotic therapeutics. These modalities offer targeted approaches to inhibit Salmonella colonization, virulence expression, and persistence, while minimizing collateral damage to the …

Teaching Local Difficult History Through Primary Sources: Exploring Tensions In Teachers’ Pedagogical Reasoning, Alex Honold, Logan Eiland

Education Faculty Articles

Teaching about local, difficult pasts can center students, their communities, and civic action. However, doing so poses personal and professional challenges. Drawing from Critical Historical Inquiry and Activity Theory, this study explored how six experienced secondary social studies teachers reasoned about selecting primary sources to teach the history of policing and activism in Detroit. As teachers developed their text-sets, they navigated a variety of tensions related to their instructional goals, beliefs, and knowledge of students’ identities and communities. We focus on two common areas of tension: how to teach the racialized history of Detroit policing while positioning students as sense-makers …

Choosing To Use Good Language In The "Adr" Field, John Lande

Faculty Publications

On October 30, 2024, Debra Berman posted a message on a listserv encouraging colleagues to drop the word “alternative” from “ADR.” Her post quickly prompted 24 responses. This article summarizes the listserv discussion about the term “ADR,” and demonstrates serious misconceptions embodied in popular concepts of “BATNA” and “facilitative” and “evaluative” mediation as well as other problematic language that we frequently use.

Language is a shared resource that can enable people to understand each other accurately and to improve our ideas and techniques. This article describes the many ways that language has huge effects on people’s thoughts and actions, and …

International Law And The Rise Of Populism, Shruti Rana, Peter G. Danchin, Jeremy Farrall, Jolyon Ford, Imogen Saunders

Faculty Publications

Contemporary legal scholarship seeks to diagnose populist antagonism towards national and international law and warn about the challenges it poses to the cooperation needed to respond to global threats. What this scholarship overlooks, however, is the role that major shifts in international legal normativity and conceptions of global governance have themselves played in incubating the conditions far the rise of populism. Against the prevailing literature, this Article argues that the key to unlocking this puzzle is recognition that populism, rather than constituting an external social pathology, is a mode of politics arising internal to the intellectual history and practice of …

Historical Practice At The Founding, Ryan Snyder

Faculty Publications

In recent years, the Supreme Court has increasingly relied on historical practice—actions other than judicial decisions that implement the law after its adoption. That creates tension with the Court’s professed adherence to originalism—the view that a law’s meaning is fixed at the time of its adoption. To resolve this tension, the Court and many scholars have embraced theories such as “liquidation,” which argue that the Founders themselves used practice to update or change the law’s meaning over time. But until now, no one has systematically examined whether the Founders accepted those theories.

This Article provides the first comprehensive analysis of …

Annual Report, 2024-2025, University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville. School Of Continuing Education And Academic Outreach

School of Continuing Education and Academic Outreach - Global Campus Annual Report

No abstract provided.

The Martyrdom Of Nadezhda Kurchenko: Soviet Hero Cults And The Spiritual Turn In Late Socialism, Steven E. Harris

History and American Studies Articles

This article argues that the spiritual turn in Soviet atheism under Brezhnev provided a meaningful solution to the problems of producing heroes when self-sacrificing martyrs were losing their appeal. To support this claim, I examine the story of Nadezhda Kurchenko, a nineteen-year-old flight attendant killed by two hijackers on an Aeroflot plane in October 1970. This article traces the heroic and spiritual dynamics of Kurchenko’s martyrdom through her funeral, hagiographies, iconic photograph, and sacred spaces. The spiritual turn enabled the authors of her story to free it from the shadows of wartime youth martyrs and ground it in the conservative …

Engaging Clinicians In Grateful Patient Fundraising, Adam Haselhuhn

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this research is to analyze grateful patient fundraising programs. Specifically, this paper will outline the barriers that exist in engaging clinicians in grateful patient fundraising. In addition, a discussion will outline the strategies to successfully engage clinicians in grateful patient fundraising. Furthermore, this paper will explore how training impacts clinicians' comfort level and ability to successfully participate in grateful patient fundraising.

Philosophical Foundation Of Culture-Space Economics: An Approach Of Holistics, Victor L. Tonn

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

Comprehensive Universe『SELF』is developed with three sub-Universes: 『Self』W Universe, Ultra Universe I (comprising Tao-Chi Meontology) and Ultra Universe II (comprising Mind-Matter Ontology.) 『SELF』is the “grand system” in which all momentums of T-CoCreativity proceed from states of Non-T-Continuity into Non-T-Continuity.〖『Self』〗^W, the operational transformational copy of 『SELF』, is the system of “individual life, inter-generational continuum -- rationality-optimism, passion-affection, vision-determination and inter-generational duration.” Then, Type I and II Economies are developed respectively on the basis of Ultra Universe I and Ultra Universe II. Finally, systems of “human activism” (HA: HA-I, HA-II) in “transformational systric forms” connect the philosophical and economic systems.

The Honors Beacon, Issue 23, 2024-2025, Honors Program At Minnesota State University, Mankato

Honors Beacon

2024-2025 newsletter of the Honors Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato.