Digital Commons Network^™

God's Not Neutral: Narrative Tropes, Spiritual Warfare, And The Construction Of Evangelical Political Identity In American Christian Fiction, Evelyn L. Mccullough

Dissertations and Theses

Evangelical Christian fiction has reached tens of millions of readers and viewers during the most sustained period of evangelical political mobilization in American history, yet its narrative construction remains largely unexamined. This study asks how recurrent tropes in this genre build the attitudinal and emotional preconditions for political engagement. Combining systematic qualitative content analysis of eight texts spanning four decades (1986–2024) with Critical Discourse Analysis grounded in van Dijk's sociocognitive framework, it traces how storytelling devices connect theological belief to political behavior. The analysis reveals a single organizing logic: the corpus holds one regressive heroic disposition constant while making it …

Kanmultisign: Multi-Scale Sequence-Based Pose Animation From Sign Language Notation With Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks, Guanyi Du, Lintao Wang, Kun Hu, Ziyang Wang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Sign language production from symbolic notation offers a scalable route to accessible sign animation. We present KANMultiSign, a multi-scale sequence generator that translates HamNoSys notation into two-dimensional human pose sequences. Our framework makes two complementary contributions. First, we introduce a coarse-to-fine generation strategy with multi-scale supervision: the model is first guided by an intermediate body–hand–face scaffold to encourage global structural coherence, and then refines fine-grained hand articulation to improve finger-level detail. Second, we investigate integrating Kolmogorov–Arnold Network modules into a Transformer backbone, using learnable univariate function primitives to model the highly non-linear mapping from discrete phonological symbols to continuous body …

Dive In! Oceanographic Engineering, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Through inquiry-based explorations, students will engineer solutions to aquatic challenges. Engaging in island construction, growing crops through aquaculture, and examining ocean “ownership” will afford learners the opportunity to participate in various aspects of the engineering design cycle.

Biological Toolkit, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Students complete hands-on, inquiry-based activities using laboratory equipment and processes to culture yeast, separate molecules through gel electrophoresis and synthesize and isolate “proteins.” Through designing a biological system using an electronic database, exploring the very basics of our genetic code in DNA and debating the ethical and social implications of this field, students investigate topics at the forefront of biology.

You Be The Judge, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Welcome to an introduction of some basic principles involved in chemistry, the application of chemistry as well as practices required to create and carry out meaningful investigations. After students have experienced the concepts in a lab setting, they will have a chance to apply their knowledge and lab skills in a variety of simulations throughout the unit. Students will take the role of experts and identify problems, develop methods of testing, and conduct the tests. After gathering, analyzing, and interpreting results, students will make and share evidence based decisions in a variety of settings.

Medieval Stem, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

This curriculum is an exploration of science, math and technology that was developed, altered or utilized by civilization during medieval times. This time period helped lay the foundation for modern science and mathematics. Technological advances abounded. This curriculum focuses on agriculture, society and epidemiology, engineering, chemistry and textiles, and technological developments that lead civilization into the Renaissance.

Secret Comunications, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Ciphers, codes and modes of delivery come together in this unit to foster inquiry into the subject of cryptology. Important capacities such as persistence and tenacity are practiced as students combine critical observations skills with logical analysis strategies to solve “secret” messages and share encrypted ideas with others. Acting as researchers and investigators students explore a variety of ciphers, codes and methods for making sense of encrypted messages.

Synthetic Scorecard: Building The Future Of Biology, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Biology, engineering, and technology will intersect in in this curriculum. Investigations will familiarize students with various equipment and techniques used in these fields of study. Protein folding, population densities, gel electrophoresis, case studies, design challenges and more will be explored throughout the curriculum.

Organized Sound: Stem In Music, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Students explore the science and math behind music structure and production.  Sound waves, vibration, and other aspects of music creation are investigated as students engineer their own musical instruments.

What’S The Story, Data?, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Information is all around us and constantly being generated. “Big data” concepts of volume, variety, and velocity of data will be explored and students will create a unique data visualization to convey the story of data they collect.  Finally, data will be critically analyzed to test the validity of claims and students will explore how data can be manipulated to misrepresent a claim.

Out Of The Silo: Agronomic Stem, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

This curriculum explores STEM topics in the context of agronomy, the science and technology of producing and using plants for food and fuel. Students will investigate plant genetics, soil science, crop management systems, new technologies, and other issues at the forefront of agronomic research. Data analysis, policy development, efficient process design, and problem-solving will engage learners in a deeper understanding of the role of agriculture in Illinois and the world.

Engineering: Design & Build, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Student led teams conceptualize, build, test, and acquire knowledge while becoming familiar with the engineering design process. Using an open-ended inquiry approach students are able to foster their creativity. Students learn to apply multiple skills and develop the habits of innovators. Now available in Spanish!

Fighting Fire With Stem, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Students become cadets of Fire Academy Rescue and embark upon an exploration of the concept of fire, tactics, forensics and innovations in fire rescue. Students engage in hands-on activities that help construct their knowledge on how fire starts and how to manage it. Students will use strategic thinking and mathematics when calculating distances between locations for fire rescue and develop writing skills as they analyze and create shift reports.

Materials Science – Living In A Material World, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Students are on an eight thousand year journey to see how the development of Materials Science has shaped the course of human civilization. Explore the world of man-made objects by examining relationships between molecular structure and materials properties. From Stone Age tools to modern carbon nanostructures, students will test, analyze, and create complex materials from simple building blocks.

Climate Change, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

This unit engages participants in a variety of investigations to help establish basic understandings regarding climate science literacy. Exploration through real-time and virtual experiments, the use of web based applications, as well as modeling and engineering experiences will help participants identify the facts, issues, and actions they wish to take. Now available in Spanish!

"How Do I Design My Law Course?": A Quick Guide For New Professors, Steven Arrigg Koh

Faculty Scholarship

How do professors start teaching law? This question is a particular challenge for new law professors, who often lack resources for course design. Written from the perspective of a recently tenured law professor, this Essay offers four major categories of decisions: semester structure, classroom, final exam, and “professorial personality.” It argues that, for each decision, reasonable minds can differ. This Essay also provides some personal reflections on the decision-making to illustrate how one professor might weigh various considerations in course design. A final Appendix is a checklist for new professors.

Northern Red-Legged Frog Terrestrial Movement And Connectivity In A Fragmented Peri-Urban Landscape, Alyson W. Yates

Dissertations and Theses

The movement and spatial ecology of amphibians is largely understudied, despite their imperiled conservation status. Landscape fragmentation by roads and other anthropogenic development features are known to affect amphibians in multiple ways pertaining to movement, often leading to population declines and exacerbating extinction risk. To mitigate these factors, wildlife managers can implement multidisciplinary strategies that seek to preserve or restore functional connectivity. However, these efforts require strong fundamental knowledge of how a species interacts with complex landscapes throughout their life cycle, including through their movement.

My thesis investigates multiple facets of northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora) spatial ecology …

“How Do I Design My Law Course?”: A Quick Guide For New Professors, Steven Arrigg Koh

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Sprouted Barley On Performance And Carcass Ultrasound Measurements In Angus-Influenced Steers During Backgrounding, Zachary C. Crump, Anthony Fernando Alberto, Bailee L. Brown, Bryce W. Roholt, Lillian L. Okamoto, Ryan A. Spurling, Robert E. Ward, Brady M. Blackett, Robert L. Harding, Sanjeewa D. Ranathunga, Kara J. Thornton

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

The objective of this research was to determine the impacts of including sprouted barley (SB) in the diets of backgrounding beef steers. Angus-influenced steers (328 ± 6.59 kg) were assigned to one of four diets (n = 15/diet): a control (CON) diet, or a diet containing 5%, 10%, or 20% SB (DM basis)—replacing corn silage and some rolled barley. Individual intake and feeding behavior were monitored using Vytelle bunks. Body weight (BW) and ruminal fluid samples were collected on d 0, 30, and 60, while dry matter intake (DMI), feeding behavior, average daily gain (ADG), and gain-to-feed ratio (G:F) were …

Research Preparedness Among Osteopathic Medical Students In The Post-Pass/Fail Licensing Examination Era: Bridging The Gap Between Rising Expectations And Student Confidence, Abbigail Niewchas, Taylor Clark, Jonathan Swiastyn, Diana Hamdan, Christopher Stewart, Magalie Zoungrana, John R. Dobson

Student Publications

Background: Since the transition of COMLEX Level 1 and USMLE Step 1 to pass/fail scoring, research productivity has become an increasingly important component of residency applications. National match data demonstrate increasing expectations for research experiences, abstracts, presentations, and publications across specialties. However, limited data describe how osteopathic medical students perceive their research preparedness, access to institutional research resources, and confidence in achieving competitive scholarly productivity in the post-pass/fail licensing examination era.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey of osteopathic medical students assessed research preparedness, institutional support, perceived barriers, and preferred strategies to increase research involvement. Descriptive statistics and exploratory correlation analyses were …

Chimes: September 14, 2026, Calvin University

Chimes

French Film Festival running through October 7 by Ava Roush

International students to face new DHS rule, starting Tuesday by Ian Tjoelker

Calvin Soccer “kicks off” season the with 6-0 shutout at home by Alex Parker

Intentionality in small numbers: 2026 IMPACT retreat for students of color by Jorie Cho

Journaling as an act of resistance by Maia Peterson

What is green space and why does it matter? by Lucas Phelps

Recent Advances In Bioethanol Production From Water Hyacinth: A Critical Review, Umuamina A. Matola, Mahir Mohammed Said, Olga-Ioanna Kalantzi, Abraham K. Temu

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Water hyacinth (WH) is a highly invasive tropical aquatic weed with high holocellulose and low lignin content, making it a promising lignocellulosic feedstock for second-generation bioethanol production. Producing bioethanol from WH offers a sustainable approach to simultaneously managing invasive biomass and producing renewable energy. This review critically evaluates recent advancements in bioethanol production from WH by examining pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation technologies reported between 2014 and 2024. A PRISMA-guided literature search was conducted using the Scopus and Web of Science databases, and fifty-nine original research articles were selected for analysis. The reviewed studies were comparatively assessed based on pretreatment strategies, …

Research Status Quo Of Carbon-Based Material For Supercapacitor Electrode, Quan Guohui, Pan Quanxi, Zhou Xue, Zhang Qingli, Tai Jinhua

Dianchi(Changsha)

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Needs For Web-Based Mobile Learning Development Based On Universal Design For Learning For Students With Special Needs, Murni Winarsih, Mayasari Manar, Rohmah Ageng Mursita, Mita Septiani

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

Higher education institutions still have substantial challenges when it comes to accommodating students with special needs, especially those who are visually or aurally impaired. Access to learning resources is still an issue, as are the limitations of adaptive learning media and the dominance of more conventional verbal and visual methods of information transmission. Hence, not all pupils are given the same chances throughout the learning process. With its emphasis on providing a variety of representational, interactive, and expressive tools, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) aims to meet the requirements of students with a wide range of learning styles. In order …

Tolkien's Philological Imagination - On Aelfwine's Spelling, The Ab Language And The Inner Consistency Of Philological Reality, Andrew Higgins

Journal of Tolkien Research

This is a paper that was given and refined at the 2026 Tolkien at Kalamazoo, Tolkien and Leeds and Oxonmoot conferences.

The Ignored Insights Of An International Student, Anonymous ,

Undercurrents: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Composition

This anonymous student writer is a Political Science major and Philosophy and Law minor from Mumbai, India. As a freshman, her inspiration for writing this essay was her recent experience with the college application process. She says that “coming from a high school in India, multiple factors in the application process were not in my favor and would have been different if I had received my high school education from the United States.” This essay was special because she “learned how to inculcate the art of actively responding with my own voice in terms of academic writing rather than merely …

Molecular Characterization Of Coprinopsis Sp. Based On Its Rdna Analysis And Evaluation Of Its Antibacterial Activity, Maysaa Taqi Al-Khazali, Kawkab Abdullah Alsaadi, Zahraa Raheem Murshidy, Dhuha Ali Hussein, Sura Abd Ali Kadhim Mohammed

Al-Bahir

The present study, conducted in Karbala Governorate, central Iraq, aimed to identify and characterize large wild fungi belonging to the genus Coprinopsis. Field-collected specimens were found to be Coprinopsis sp. with affinity to Coprinopsis cinerea, based initially on detailed morphological and microscopic characteristics and further supported by molecular analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA through comparison with related sequences available in the GenBank database. BLAST analysis revealed minor nucleotide variations, and the obtained sequence was deposited in the NCBI GenBank database under accession number PX247457.1. These findings contribute to the limited records of Coprinopsis species …

Comparative Experimental Study Of Pcm And Zeolite-Based Passive Cooling For Enhancing Second Generation Solar Panel Performance In Hot-Arid Climates, Mohammed Dakhil Abbas, Tawfeeq K. Al-Hamdi, Mohammed Ali Abdulrehman, Shah Rizal Kasim, Ahmed Subhi Abbas, Ali M. Flayyih, Tawfeeq W. Mohammed

Al-Bahir

Operating at high temperatures is one of the key factors affecting the performance of photovoltaic systems. In hot-arid climates, the temperature is typically extremely high. In this study, the experimental performance of two passive cooling systems, phase change materials (PCMs) and zeolite X13-CaCl₂, was comparatively assessed to improve the performance of cadmium telluride photovoltaic panels under the same real operating conditions in Baghdad, Iraq. An improvement of approximately 8.5% in electrical conversion efficiency (i.e., the percentage increase compared to the reference system and not the actual value) was achieved, with a decrease in temperature of approximately 12 °C being recorded …

Green Assisted Synthesis Of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles: The Influence Of Plant Extract Type (Eucalyptus, Lemon, And Sidr), Ikram R. Abdal-Razaq, Farhad M. Othman, Alaa A. Abdul-Hamead

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

In recent years, a greener sustained approach has attracted significant attention, particularly that employs environmentally friendly nanomaterials by utilizing natural extracts. Despite the growing number of literature studies on the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using different plants, comparisons between extracts to assess their effect on physical and chemical properties under identical preparation conditions are almost limited. Therefore, this study aims investigate an emerging field of nanotechnology focused on creating cost-effective, environmentally friendly zinc oxide nanoparticles using various leaf extracts (Eucalyptus, Lemon, and Sidr) as reducing and stabilizing agents, with zinc chloride as the precursor. The impact of the active …

Tensile Behaviour Of Polymer Blends Reinforced With Siwak, Flax Fibres And Natural Powders, Hassan A. Sharhan, Sadeer M. Majeed, Wafaa M. Salih

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

This research focuses on developing environmentally friendly hybrid nanocomposites based on a polymer blend of 25% PMMA and 75% bio-epoxy, reinforced with natural materials, including eggshell powder, cuttlefish bone, siwak, and flax fibres. Tensile testing results showed a significant enhancement in mechanical characteristics with increasing reinforcement percentage. The eggshell-reinforced blend with siwak fibres achieved the best mechanical performance at 3 wt.%, having a tensile strength of around 15 MPa and a Young's modulus of roughly 0.72 GPa, as opposed to the unreinforced blend, which measured roughly 6 MPa and 0.35 GPa, respectively. The elongation also increased from approximately 1.8% for …