Digital Commons Network^™

Ghost Bikes Of Queens, Brianna Caszatt

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Traffic violence is an all-too-common experience in New York, but after a crash is cleaned up, what’s left? The violence is hidden, the infrastructure resumes its seemingly neutral existence, the streets continue to be dominated by cars, and the cycle repeats itself. Ghost bikes—bikes that have been painted white and placed near the site where a cyclist was killed—stand in opposition to this cycle. They serve as both a grassroots memorial and a call to action. Ghost Bikes of Queens (https://bri-caszatt.github.io/ghost_bikes_queens/) is a digital memory project that serves as a virtual memorial and furthers that call to action.

The project …

Modeling Hydroxide In Classical Proton Hopping Simulations And Amyloid Beta Membrane Pores, Ankita Dutta

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

H3O+ and OH- ions display anomalously large diffusion coefficients, a property that is often attributed to their ability to perform structural diffusion which allow these ions to move through aqueous solutions by sequential proton transfers, also known as ‘Grotthuss hopping’. A rearrangement of the local solvation structure is known to be the prerequisite for proton transfer events via these ions. Studying this phenomenon using classical molecular dynamics simulations that do not allow bond rearrangements poses significant obstacles. Here we use a Monte Carlo augmented classical Molecular Dynamics method called the MOBHY algorithm which allows instantaneous changes in protonation states in …

A Comparison Of The Islamophobic Experiences Of The Female Convert And Immigrant Muslims In America, Aliaa Dawoud

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study compares the Islamophobic experiences of female converts and immigrants in America. It is based on interviews with a total of thirteen women, six Muslim born ones and seven converts. Both groups included hijabis and non-hijabis. Unlike most other studies, in which the converts are mostly or exclusively converts from Christianity, two of the interviewees were converts from Judaism while another one was a convert from a Christian/Buddhist/atheist background.

This study argues that Islamophobia is primarily manifested in the form of pervasive everyday racism that is levied at both female converts and immigrants alike, largely in the form of …

The Effect Of Personal Listening Devices On Subjective Hearing Status, Esther Feldman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Long term or brief exposure to loud noise can trigger the onset of noise-induced hearing loss which can lead to a temporary (TTS) or permanent (PTS) shift in hearing threshold. Occupational noise, or recreational noise such as music can contribute to shifts in hearing levels. Listening to music in person at a concert or when listening on earphones/earbuds and streaming from a smartphone can produce sound pressure levels (SPL) high enough to lead to PTS, TTS, and associated symptoms. A survey of adults was conducted to gain insight into onset of self-perceived temporary hearing loss and tinnitus after short term …

Positron Emission Tomography In Oncology And Environmental Science, Samantha Delaney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The last half century has played witness to the onset of molecular imaging for the clinical assessment of physiological targets. While several medical imaging modalities allow for the visualization of the functional and anatomical properties of humans and living systems, few offer accurate quantitation and the ability to detect biochemical processes with low-administered drug mass doses. This limits how physicians and scientists may diagnose and treat medical issues, such as cancer, disease, and foreign agents.

A promising alternative to extant invasive procedures and suboptimal imaging modalities to assess the nature of a biological environment is the use of positron emission …

Listening For Lemurs: Translating Black-And-White Ruffed Lemur (Varecia Variegata) Vocalizations Into Conservation Insights Through Acoustic Monitoring, Carly H. Batist

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The field of bioacoustic monitoring has undergone a significant evolution in recent years, driven by technological innovations that have revolutionized how researchers study animal vocalizations. Traditionally, bioacoustics was rooted in active acoustic monitoring (AAM), involving human observers using recorders in the field to study animal sounds and understand species' vocal communication. However, the emergence of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) has introduced a new complementary approach, utilizing specialized recorders placed in ecosystems to autonomously capture sounds at wide spatial and temporal scales. My dissertation adopts a translational approach to bioacoustic monitoring, integrating both AAM and PAM techniques to study and survey …

Communication Challenges In Underwater Wireless Networks: Mac Protocols And Software Solutions, Dmitrii Dugaev

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Underwater wireless networks (UWNs) represent a diverse and intriguing research domain, encompassing a wide array of scientific and industrial applications. This dissertation delves into the communication challenges at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer within UWNs, stemming from the distinctive signal propagation conditions and the harshness of the deployment environment. The manuscript provides comprehensive coverage of key aspects of UWNs, including potential applications, communication protocols, methodologies employed in such networks, and existing software solutions that facilitate simulation, emulation, and real testbed scenarios for underwater research endeavors. Furthermore, this research introduces innovative software and communication solutions designed to facilitate the seamless …

The Animated Cinema Of Bruno Bozzetto, Emilia Gambardella

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The principal aim of this dissertation is to insert Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto into the established narrative of Italian cinema. Although in American and British Film Studies animation has enthusiastically been at the center of many important conversations for the last thirty years, animation has received scant attention within Italian Studies. As such, in the dissertation I discuss a selection of Bozzetto’s animations in relation and comparison to live-action Italian films of the same decades which have been discussed and written about extensively. My dissertation fills this gap in Italian cinema scholarship by drawing on interdisciplinary sources to locate Bozzetto …

Systematics And Comparative Genomics Of The Petaluridae (Odonata: Anisoptera), Ethan R. Tolman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Anisoptera (Insecta: Odonata), or dragonflies exhibit diverse life histories and diversification patterns, with the family Petaluridae standing out as particularly unique. Comprising only 11 extant species, all of which inhabit increasingly threatened fen habitats, Petaluridae are known for their longevity, which can exceed five years, semi-terrestrial lifestyle, and remarkable physical size, ranking among the largest insects on Earth. Despite the evolutionary peculiarities of this family, no previous genomic studies have investigated the Petaluridae. This work presents two high-quality genome sequences and a targeted enrichment dataset to explore the chromosome architecture of Petaluridae, identifies genomic adaptations associated with their distinctive …

Identification Of Mandibular And Maxillary Molars Of Old World Monkeys (Primates, Cercopithecidae) Using 3d Geometric Morphometrics, Eric John Mazelis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present study is an attempt to take steps towards quantifying 3D molar shapes of the primate family Cercopithecidae to construct a framework for the automation of identifying the anatomical position and taxonomic affiliations of isolated molars. I introduce a new landmark protocol and present a proposed workflow model which can be applied in the future. For the purpose of this study, I collected and compiled the largest sample of 3D surface scans of varying wear grades of all six cercopithecid molar positions (i.e., M¹-M³ and M₁-M₃). The sample comprises 2641 specimens from …

Negotiating Pluralism: Dilemmas Of Decentralization In The Middle East, Asli Ü. Bâli, Omar M. Dajani

UC Law Journal

This Article explores the potential of decentralized governance and territorial arrangements to address the overlapping governance crises and identity conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa (the “MENA”). Despite an extensive literature on decentralization and federalism in comparative law and politics, few studies have considered such initiatives in this region. By undertaking a qualitative comparison of decentralizing initiatives in four MENA countries—Tunisia, Iran, Syria, and Yemen—this Article provides the first sustained examination of these understudied cases and in the process suggests a variety of region-wide implications.

The cases are generative both in addressing ongoing debates about the merits of …

Forced Pooling: The Unconstitutional Taking Of Private Property, Kevin J. Lynch

UC Law Journal

Our society’s continued addiction to fossil fuels poses an existential threat to our future. The scientific consensus clearly tells us that we must stop burning fossil fuels as fast as possible. This poses a huge political challenge, as many people make a lot of money from the fossil fuel industry, and they resist change. But an overlooked legal doctrine shows that we are not even going after the lowest hanging fruit. Oil and gas rights are often privately held in the United States. Some owners of those rights would be happy to leave their oil and gas safely in the …

Targeting Cancers With Ohsv-Based Oncolytic Viral Immunotherapy, Rakin Tammam Nasar, Ifeanyi Kingsley Uche, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

The recent success of cancer immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICIs), monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), cancer vaccines, and adoptive cellular therapies (ACTs), has revolutionized traditional cancer treatment. However, these immunotherapeutic modalities have variable efficacies, and many of them exhibit adverse effects. Oncolytic viral Immunotherapy (OViT), whereby viruses are used to directly or indirectly induce anti-cancer immune responses, is emerging as a novel immunotherapy for treating patients with different types of cancer. The herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) possesses many characteristics that inform its use as an effective OViT agents and remains a leading candidate. Its recent clinical success resulted in …

Design And Characteristics Of A Single-Storey Hybrid Wood–Soil Structure, Mohamed Darwish, Mohamed Adham, Hassan Allam, Khaled Yousri, Tamer Hassan

Faculty Journal Articles

The need to reduce the effects of climate change has been increasing. One of the pathways to answer such a need is green construction. Hybrid wood–soil (HWS) structures are eco-friendly in addition to being cost-effective. Within this study, a single-storey building has been architecturally and structurally designed and tested. A conventional reinforced concrete (RC) structural system was designed and considered as a control case to be compared to the design at hand, which is an HWS system incorporating locally cultivated Casuarina Glauca wood and an in situ earth-based mixture. The two design alternatives are compared in terms of cost and …

Moral Responsibility And Other Visceral Attitudes Of Western Michigan University Students Toward Food Waste, Quinn Heiser

Masters Theses

Despite the large number of people that go hungry on a regular basis in America, food waste remains a looming issue, globally and nationally. Both American college students and the universities themselves contribute a large portion to the national food waste totals. A dichotomy that is especially curious is the difference between students who live on-campus and whose main source of meals is the dining centers, versus students who live off campus and rely mainly on groceries to make meals independently. However, food waste has seldom been studied in the context of the fact that college is a major transition …

Reformed Worship (Rw) 152 - Work And Worship (June 2024), Reformed Worship Editors

Reformed Worship Magazine

Editorial: Continuing the Rhythm by Joyce Borger....2

Living Worship by Ron Man....3

Worship Series: Work and Worship by Moses Kang and Stephanie VanRooyen....7

Daily Worship and Vocation by Paul Ryan....15

Songs for the Season: Songs for Work and Worship by Kathryn Ritsema Roelofs....19

For Pastors: Preachers on a Mission by Scott Hoezee....25

The Ten Commandments in the Reformed Tradition by Yudha Thianto....27

"Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread" by Joyce Borger....30

Owning and Being Owned by the Psalms by David Koll....33

Whole Worship from the Whole Psalter by Joel Coppieters …

Before You Stick, Know The Tricks!, Quinlan Duncan, Samantha Entwisle, Destiny Nwoko, Ashley Rich

2023

No abstract provided.

Sustainability: A Legal Value And A Legal Principle, Irma S. Russell

UMKC Law Review

Introduction to the symposium issue, Sustainability as a Legal Value and a Legal Principle. This issue explores the concept of sustainability as a legal principle, presents food for thought about sustainability development, and provides inspiration for climate action.

Stable State Societies In The Eye Of The Storm, John W. Ragsdale

UMKC Law Review

This Article will discuss the values and beliefs that are vital to sustainability and a prelude to the coming battle against the existential threat of climate change. It will examine the components of the core of a homeostatic, balancing-seeking entity that itself is in constant, rhythmic, corrective motion. The stable state counters the incessant, swirling forces that surround the peace within. Paradoxically, the continued resilience of the sustainable state requires constant vigilance and maintenance.

Still Not At All: Environmental Sustainability In The Supreme Court, James R. May

UMKC Law Review

Some predicted that the Court and litigants would make sustainability principles juridically relevant. Yet this article takes a fresh look and finds express invocation of sustainability still lacking not only in the U.S. Supreme Court but virtually throughout the U.S. federal judicial system comprised of the Supreme Court, 13 federal appellate courts, and 94 federal district courts. Part II tells the story of sustainable development's continued march as a legal principle. Part III engages sustainability jurisprudence before the U.S. Supreme Court and otherwise in the federal court system. It concludes that not only the U.S. Supreme Court but the entire …

Protecting Water, Sustaining Communities: Transforming Groundwater Management Entities Into Sources Of Power During And After Environmental Crises, Sarah Matsumoto

UMKC Law Review

Groundwater serves as a vital, limited resource for people all over the world. The United States Geological Survey reports that about 140 million people in the United States rely on groundwater for drinking water, of those, almost 43 million people rely on groundwater from domestic (or private, non-public supply) wells. In rural areas, groundwater is often the only available source of drinking water, making protection of groundwater quality in these regions a paramount concern.

Mirroring the various state regulatory approaches to groundwater management and protection, much of the recent media coverage of groundwater in the West focuses on water allocation …

Abortion, Gay Equality, And The Normative Power Of The Actual, Pamela S. Karlan

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Critical Race Theory Bans And The Changing Canon: Cultural Appropriation In Narrative, Susan Ayres

Faculty Scholarship

Thirty-five states have enacted critical race theory bans at the level of elementary and secondary public education, and seven states have extended these to the university level. One way to resist these attempts to repress a healthy democracy by whitewashing history is through a pedagogy of antiracism, including literary works. The question of what that would look like involves questions of cultural appropriation, which occurs when one takes from another culture, such as a writer creating a narrative about a character outside of the writer’s cultural identity. This Article considers the story of Ota Benga, brought from the Congo to …

The Sources And Consequences Of Disputes Over Contractual Meaning, Randy D. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

With some frequency, parties agree to the particular words used in a contract they sign, only to later disagree as to the meaning of those words and their legal effect. That is, they each assent to something, but that “something” is something different for each of them. In this Article, I first categorize and trace the sources of recurring points of disagreement as a matter of language and linguistics. Then, I look at the consequences of a dispute that leads a fact finder to conclude that the parties genuinely did not agree to the same thing, which is to say …

Is A Photo Indeed Worth A Thousand Words? Validating The Use Of Photos To Understand Mental Health, Gender, And Coping Methods In College Students, Jacqueline Belkin

Honors Projects

The purpose of this study is to investigate coping mechanisms among college students at a Midwestern university using photoelicitation and to examine gender differences in coping responses, validated by mental health professionals. The study involved students from a large 4-year college in the Midwestern United States, along with mental health professionals. A diverse group of student participants and mental health professionals reviewed researcher-supplied photographs, rating coping mechanisms on a 1 to 10 scale. Students also uploaded photographs reflecting their coping methods. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted on both researcher-supplied and student-submitted photographs. Mental health professionals validated student responses. Responses …

Targeting Trpc3: A Promising Therapeutic Strategy For Alzheimer's Disease, Jiaxing Wang

Alternative Theses and Dissertations (AETDs)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurological disorder characterized by extracellular β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and intracellular tau tangles. The calcium (Ca2+) hypothesis of AD proposes that disrupted intracellular Ca2+ regulation underlies AD pathology, contributing to inflammation, oxidative stress, impaired autophagy, neurodegeneration, and cognitive dysfunction. Store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) maintains ER Ca2+ stores, involving transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC) and Orai channels. Specifically, we speculated that dysregulated functions of TRPC3 contribute to the pathogenesis of AD. We believe that targeting TRPC3 with a pharmacologically feasible agent could prove beneficial in halting cognitive decline. We previously reported compound JW-65, a novel, metabolically …

Animal Science Research Report 2024 (Complete Report), Department Of Animal Science

Animal Science Research Report 2024

This is the complete proceedings of the South Dakota State University, Department of Animal Science Research Report 2024. The report contains research on ruminant, non-ruminant, and meat science.

Sect And Superstition: The Protestant Framework Of American Codification, Kellen R. Funk

Faculty Scholarship

Elite lawyers who debated codification in the nineteenth-century United States treated codification as inseparable from a liberal Protestant textualism that had taken hold in the early national era. Legislators declared codification to be the necessary final step of the Protestant Reformation and frequently characterized common law lawyers as beholden to ‘superstition’ and ‘priestcraft’. Their opponents denounced the codifiers’ idea that texts alone could adequately convey common meanings and delighted to point out the endlessly fracturing glosses on supposedly ‘clear’ texts that divided the positivists into an ever-increasing number of sects.

Many works have addressed the relationship between populism and positivism …

Editorial: The Gut-Skin Axis: Interaction Of Gut Microbiome And Skin Diseases, Jianmin Chai, Feilong Deng, Ying Li, Xiaoyuan Wei, Jiangchao Zhao

Animal Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Editorial on the Research Topic: The gut-skin axis: interaction of gut microbiome and skin diseases

Identifying Dietary Timing Of Organic Trace Minerals To Reduce The Incidence Of Osteomyelitis Lameness In Broiler Chickens Using The Aerosol Transmission Model, Khawla Alharbi, Andi Asnayanti, Anh Dang Trieu Do, Ruvindu Perera, Layla Al-Mitib, Abdulkarim Shwani, Marco A. Rebollo, Michael T. Kidd, Adnan Ali Khalaf Alrubaye

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our prior research demonstrated a 20% to 25% reduction in bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO) lameness in broilers with organic Zn, Mn, and Cu (Availa^® ZMC) supplementation. Expanding on this, we investigated the optimal timing for Availa^® ZMC feeding to mitigate BCO lameness and reduce feed additive costs in the poultry industry. In this study, we compared the application of 0.15% Availa^® ZMC for 56 days, the first 28 days, and the last 28 days. The experimental design was a randomized block design involving 1560 one-day-old chicks distributed across two wire-floor pens as BCO source infection and …