Digital Commons Network^™

Muscular Degeneration In Caenorhabditis Elegans By Microplastic And Chemical Exposure Through Locomotion Analysis, Juan Pablo Olvera Rodriguez, Angelica Cue-Leon, David Mares

Posters - 2026

We use Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) as a model organism to investigate the effects of microplastic and chemical exposure on muscle structure and function.

• Microplastics (MP) are pieces of plastic less than 5 μm, and Nanoplastics (NP) are less than 1 μm. Microplastics are man-made pollutants and have been found in the environment and in the food and water sources, including drinks from plastic bottles (Hu, 2020). • Our work relates environmental contamination to potential biological consequences at the muscular level, providing insight into how pollutants may contribute to degenerative damage.

• Polystyrene (PS) MPs alone and combined with …

Bird Population Response To Abiotic And Biotic Stresses In Urban & Restored Oak Savannah Habitat, Annabelle Ball

Posters - 2026

Birds are heavily impacted by urban development. Many experience habitat fragmentation and removal of food sources. However, other species can adapt to and even thrive in urban environments, thanks to certain tree species, bird feeders, and buildings. In North America, the house sparrow and the European starling are invasive species that benefit from urban environments (Bartelt, 2011; Fitzwater, 2014). Meanwhile, many habitats across the continent are experiencing restoration/rewilding efforts for the benefit of birds. One such habitat is the oak-savannah, which is characterized by 10-30% canopy cover and a mixture of prairie & woodland vegetation, supporting a high diversity of …

The Effects Human Presence Has On Dolphins Within A Natural Lagoon Enclosure In Managed Care, Mario Martinez, Winter Saldaña

Posters - 2026

● Previous research looked into the overall behavior of dolphins in managed care using observations of location (Dudzinski & Hill, 2025).

● This study provides opportunities to investigate the effects of human presence on dolphin activity and space use (Lauderdale et al., 2022; Trone et al., 2005).

● Purpose - To determine if human presence affects dolphin behavior / spatial use of natural lagoon.

● H1: Dolphin clustering will be seen in the most Northern part of the lagoon and area associated with humans consistently (Melillo et al., 2009).

● H2: Higher activity levels will be observed during the “during” …

False Conflict: Colorblindness And Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act, W. Kerrel Murray

Faculty Scholarship

If friends and foes of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 agree on one thing, it is the irrepressible conflict between section 2’s attention to race and constitutional colorblindness.  They’re wrong.  Rightly understood, section 2’s design is remarkably compatible with colorblind constitutionalism’s letter and spirit.

To show how, this Article first returns to section 2’s origins and the preexisting approach its text codifies.  That approach had an underappreciated ethos:  When intentional discrimination’s effects sufficiently distort a political system, an electoral rule’s results might impugn its unconstitutionality, even if the rule had been adopted without discriminatory purpose.  Drawing …

Pet Foodies: Trait Extension From People To Pets, Richard Flight, Cole Cline

AMTP Proceedings 2026

We propose and empirically examine a Pet Foodie trait—a measurable extension of human foodie identity into pet food consumption. Pet Foodies are theorized to show elevated enjoyment/interest, resource investment, and knowledge regarding pet nutrition and food features. Recognizing the accelerating humanization of pets, we examine whether Pet Foodies can be reliably assessed, how they relate to animal bonding and human foodie identity, and whether they respond differently to pet-food advertising.

Consumer Adoption Of Cultivated Meat: A Multi-Value Perspective Using Empirical And Synthetic Data, Wei Fu

AMTP Proceedings 2026

The global demand for meat is projected to rise by more than 70% by 2050, creating pressure on natural resources and worsening environmental challenges. Cultivated meat, produced by growing animal cells in controlled environments, offers a sustainable alternative to conventional livestock farming; however, consumers acceptance remains uncertain. This study applies the Theory of Consumption Values (Sheth, Newman, & Gross, 1991) to examine how multidimensional consumption values influence consumer’s sustainable evaluation of cultivated meat. Using both empirical survey data from U.S. consumers and a synthetic dataset generated with the same instrument, the results show that functional value (food quality), social value …

Perceived Authority Of Ai-Generated Videos And Consumer Vulnerability, Kungpo Paul Tao

AMTP Proceedings 2026

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into social media has transformed how consumers watch, interpret, and engage with video content. While AI-driven personalization enhances engagement, the growing realism of AI-generated videos blurs the boundary between authentic and fabricated content, increasing consumer vulnerability. This study examines how creativity influences consumer attention, interpretation, and interaction with AI-generated videos, and how it moderates the relationship between perceived authority and consumer engagement. Using secondary data collected from YouTube, the study analyzes publicly available AI-generated videos and user responses, including engagement metrics and comment-based sentiment indicators. The findings reveal that most consumers struggle to …

Ai-Based Multi-Dimensional Coding Of Cancel Culture: Opportunities And Limits Of Llm-Based Categorization, Sairah Abraham, T. Andrew Poehlman

AMTP Proceedings 2026

Large-scale qualitative coding is a bottleneck in marketing research, especially for complex, multi-level phenomena like corporate cancel culture. This paper uses over 100 well-known cancellation events as a testbed to evaluate whether GPT can act as a reliable, low-cost “independent rater” for rich categorical schemes. We develop a multi-dimensional coding framework (trigger locus, controversy source, social issue, moral foundation, and target level) and implement a staged GPT pipeline: zero-shot prompts benchmarked against human “gold standard” coders, scaled to larger samples, then extended with few-shot prompting and fine-tuning for harder constructs such as moral foundations. We compare GPT variants and roles, …

Abca4 Versus Prph2-Associated Retinopathy: Clinical And Electrophysiological Findings, Rachael C. Heath Jeffery, A. Thompson, Johnny Lo, Andrea L. Vincent, Minal Patil, Lorenzo Bianco, Maurizio Battaglia Parodi, Lucia Ziccardi, Carmen Dell’Aquila, Lucilla Barbano, Wei Chao Tang, Choi Mun Chan, Camiel J.F. Boon, Jonathan Hensman, Ta Ching Chen, Chien Yu Lin, Pei Lung Chen, Ajoy Vincent, Anupreet Tumber, Elise Heon, John R. Grigg, Robyn V. Jamieson, Elisa E. Cornish, Benjamin N. Nash, Jeremy Chou, Tina M. Lamey

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to characterize the clinical features, electrophysiology, and variant spectrum in ABCA4- and PRPH2-retinopathies and to identify novel electrodiagnostic biomarkers to differentiate between these two genotypes. Methods. We conducted an international multicenter case-control study of patients with a clinical and genetic diagnosis of ABCA4- or PRPH2-retinopathy. Age at symptom onset, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), electroretinography (ERG) components, and fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging were compared. Subgroup exploratory analysis was performed on those patients with a phenotype similar to central areolar choroidal dystrophy (“CACD-like”), those with flecks distributed throughout the posterior pole (“fleck-like”) and a healthy …

Exchanging Genes Within A City: Analysis Of Pollen Flow Patterns In A Narrow Endemic Plant Species Threatened By Urbanisation, Nicola Delnevo, Andrea Piotti, Eddie J. Van Etten, William D. Stock, David L. Field, Margaret Byrne

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Human-driven habitat fragmentation is known to disrupt gene flow in a wide range of species. However, its consequences for endemic plant species that depend on specialised invertebrate pollinators remain poorly understood. Although honeybees are capable of travelling considerable distances while foraging, many small-bodied native bee species lack the capacity to expand their foraging ranges or cross anthropogenic barriers, rendering habitat fragmentation the most significant threat to these ecological interactions. In many long-lived plants, the time since fragmentation has not been long enough for detectable changes in the genetic composition of standing populations. Changes in dispersal patterns observed in seedlings may …

Against A Medical Exception To Equal Protection, Govind Persad

Washington and Lee Law Review

Government regulations of medicine sometimes treat patients differently based on their race or sex. Does heightened scrutiny apply to such regulations—as is usual when law treats someone differently based on a protected characteristic? Or is there a medical exception to equal protection?

Recently, in United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court upheld a law that restricted access to medical treatments for transgender minors. Though its holding did not rely on medical exceptionalism, its discussion reinvigorated interest in a “medical exception” to equal protection: that medical decisions are exempt from the searching review applied when governmental decisions consider protected characteristics.

For …

Morocco’S Liquid Gold: The Actual And Potential Role Of International Ip Law In The Protection Of The Traditional Knowledge Of Argan Oil, Christen Smith

Student Scholarship

This paper examines the actual and potential role of international intellectual property law in the protection of the traditional knowledge associated with argan oil, a product linked to the cultural heritage of the indigenous people in Morocco and increasingly commercialized globally. The paper starts with a background on the argan forest and the cultural significance of the argan tree. Then, the traditional production method used to extract argan oil is discussed. The paper also covers the rise of women’s cooperatives and how the argan oil industry has economically transformed in recent decades. The next section identifies problems in protecting traditional …

Giovanni Da Legnano’S Reception Of Thomas Of Ireland’S Manipulus Florum (1306) In The Prohemium To The Somnium, Chris L. Nighman

History Faculty Publications

This article demonstrates the reception of the influential florilegium Manipulus florum in Giovanni da Legnano’s Somnium, a discovery that has major implications for future scholarship on not only this text, but all of this author’s surviving works. It also reports some very unusual, probably unique, contextual evidence for his reception of the Manipulus.

Proceedings Of The 104th Annual Virginia Academy Of Science Meeting, 2026, Virginia Academy Of Science

Virginia Journal of Science

Proceedings (abstracts) of the 104th Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 28, 2026, at Christopher Newport University, in Newport News, Virginia.

Thy Rod And Thy Staff Comfort Me, Drew Moser

2026 MFA Visual Arts

No abstract provided.

Exploratory Evaluation Of Handler Performance And Processing-Related Outcomes During Cattle Handling, Morgan Marquardt

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Animals have several critical roles in society, including the production of food and fiber, and companionship. Contact with animals has been shown to benefit human physical and mental health, yet little research has investigated the impact that humans have on animals. Handler skill may considerably affect the extent to which humans influence animal health and wellbeing, and this may be a critical consideration for animal agriculture. Objective assessment of cattle handler skill has received limited attention in the scientific literature, despite its importance to human safety and animal welfare. When compared to less skilled handlers, highly skilled cattle handlers may …

Rooted Families: A Whole Family Ministry, Aubree Nelson

Christian Ministries Senior Capstone

Rooted Families is set in the context of a family dynamic: a mother, a father, and children. Parents often drop their kids off at church on Sunday, yet many feel unqualified to disciple their children at home. This paper is the philosophy of ministry for Rooted Families, which is located at First Missionary Church in Fort Wayne Indiana. The goal is to provide a framework for churches to enable them to create spaces for parents to learn and be equipped to disciple their children. This paper describes the theological, anthropological, and sociological premises that affect parents and their influence over …

Under The Cover Of Blackness: The Racialized Dimensions Of Netflix’S Personalized Cover Art, Daphne Gershon

Communication Studies Faculty Scholarship

This article explores the mechanisms that shape how race is represented in online TV interfaces by analyzing Netflix’s personalized cover art, an essential digital paratext designed to attract viewers through individualized images. Netflix has previously been accused of using its personalized cover art or thumbnails in racially biased ways, displaying either Black or white characters based on the presumed race of users. To further existing research on this digital feature, this article focuses not just on whether Black characters are represented, but also on how they are represented. Through an exploratory pilot study that involves the creation of different algorithmic …

War And Communism In 50s-70s Sci-Fi Movies, Nathaniel Smith

Gateway Reader- Individual Papers

• The Problem: The researcher addresses how 1950s–1970s science fiction cinema reflects prevailing post-war societal anxieties, specifically the fear of nuclear Armageddon and the geopolitical tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.

• The Method: The framework analyzes thematic elements and narrative structures across a selection of mid-to-late 20th-century speculative fiction films, specifically The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), and Godzilla (1954).

• Quantitative Finding: The Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear weapon in 1949; the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock in 1947; the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in …

  ---

  Go to article

2026 Research Day Program, Lincoln Memorial University

Research Day

This program contains abstracts and presentation summaries from LMU's 2026 Annual Research Day conference.

Fisheries Research Report No. 358 - Recreational Fishing For Blue Swimmer Crab In Cockburn Sound: Estimates Of Effort And Catch In 2024/25, Alissa C. Tate, Claire B. Smallwood, Eva K M Lai

Fisheries Research Reports

The Cockburn Sound Blue Swimmer Crab (Portunus armatus) fishery was reopened to recreational fishing in December 2024 following a 10-year closure. Monitoring was essential to assess fishing effort and catch for this species.

A boat ramp (bus route) survey at four key access points (Leeuwin, Woodman Point, Palm Beach, and Point Peron) and shore-based roving creel survey (Fremantle South Mole to Point Peron) were used to collect data from December 2024 to May 2025. These surveys provide estimates of fishing effort, total catch (kept and released), harvest and catch rates for Blue Swimmer Crab in Cockburn Sound.

A total of …

Salary Report, 2026 April, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

The Digital Radical: Online Extremism, Propagation, And Terror By Design's Strategic Implications For Homeland Security, Hunter Lacroix, Shevach Berkovits

Journal of Strategic Security

The 'lone wolf' figure has long been central to counterterrorism analysis, representing the trajectory from non-participant to self-directed actor aligned with extremist causes. Traditional frameworks emphasizing in-person networks or online exposure, however, fail to capture the transformation of radicalization in the algorithmic age. The Arab Spring demonstrated the mobilizing power of digital platforms, yet movements like ISIS later weaponized these networks to provide ideology, belonging, and identity to dislocated populations. This article introduces the concept of the Digital Radical—an individual who transitions from passive consumer to active propagator of extremist narratives, sustaining and expanding radical ecosystems in a symbiotic …

Studies In Rio Grande Valley History - Volume 19, Thomas Daniel Knight, Antonio N. Zavaleta, Anthony K. Knopp, Andrik Gonzalez, Milo Kearney

Studies in Rio Grande Valley Regional History Series

Early Days of the U.S. Mexican War in South Texas / James W. Mills -- La Configuración de la Frontera Mexicana Desde El Mar / Arturo Zárate Ruiz -- Ethnic Trends in The Growth of Brownsville / Anthony Knopp -- How McAllen Became the Economic Center of the Rio Grande Valley: Further Considerations / Edward F. Wallace -- Cobbling in the Rio Grande Valley / Noe E. Perez -- Cultural Crossroads: Expressions of Identity, Resistance, & Belonging on the Texas-Mexico Border / Andrik Gonzalez -- Two Women, Two Journeys, One Border: Stories From the Migrant Generation / Manuel F. Medrano …

Best Practices: Using Difficulty As A Motivator Through Tools As Rewards, James Parker

Level Design Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluates a set of best practices intended to encourage players to persist through difficulty by leveraging tools as rewards, and as motivational design elements. Specifically, the researcher examines whether introducing the core challenge earlier in the experience, while framing tools as rewards of facility, can motivate players to engage with and solve the primary gameplay challenge.

An Insight Into The Venom Gland Proteome Of The Two-Spined Trap-Jaw Ant, Odontomachus Haematodus, Aaron Morgan

Honors Theses

Ants are ecologically important and highly abundant organisms, playing key roles in many ecosystems. One recently introduced species in the southeastern United States is Odontomachus haematodus (the two-spined trap-jaw ant), a South American native that has often been misidentified, contributing to limited research on its biology and venom composition. This study aimed to provide the first detailed characterization of the venom apparatus and proteome of O. haematodus. Specimens were collected and dissected, and venom-related proteins were extracted and analyzed using SDS-PAGE and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS-ESI). Confocal microscopy was also used to visualize the sting apparatus, including F-actin filaments and …

Characterization Of A Core Fungal Community And Captivity-Induced Gut “Mycobiome” Change In Fowler's Toad (Anaxyrus Fowleri), Alexander J. Bradshaw, Sinlan Poo, Tracey E. Malter, Rylie M. Strasbaugh, Brianna Bodner, Madison R. Hincher, Anne Devan-Song, Javier F. Tabima

Biology

Amphibious animals, such as frogs, are found at the intersection of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They may serve as keystone and sentinel species and play key roles in nutrient cycling and food webs. In recent decades, amphibians have experienced drastic population declines due to habitat loss, climate change, and disease. These declines have prompted investments in ex situ conservation and captive breeding programs, which aim to reduce extinction risk by creating assurance colonies and reintroducing individuals once threats are mitigated. A critical component of these programs is proper husbandry, which ensures the health and longevity of captive populations and their …

The Moderating Effect Of Gender And Humor On Leader Evaluation, Russell John Marshall

Theses and Dissertations from DePaul University

There has been much discourse in the popular press, political, and professional spheres about the humor used by leaders and aspiring leaders. Although humor is seen as mostly positive in the workplace, there have been significant findings that humor’s impact is influenced by gender/sex. Male humor use is often seen as functional, while female humor use is seen as disruptive (Evans et al., 2019). This study examines how humor and gender/sex affects likeability and professional respect for leaders. It was predicted that humor use would increase male leaders likeability and professional respect while decreasing these rating for female leaders. Participants …

Eagle-Winged Worms: Seeing Contingent Faculty Through Currere, Nicholas Hayes

Theses and Dissertations from DePaul University

This currere explores my experiences as part-time contingent faculty working at multiple institutions (a so-called freeway flyer). Covering the years from 2005-2015, the regressive mode draws from my experiences teaching writing composition and literature at a community college, arts college, and three religious universities. A central impetus for this exploration is a desire to understand the ways I was socialized by these institutions and how that socialization shaped my understanding of my identity within and through my status as contingent faculty. Higher education (especially first-year writing programs) has become dependent on contingent faculty. The increased reliance on part-time contingent faculty …

A Real Account Of Deep Fakes, Benjamin L.W Sobel

Michigan Law Review

Laws regulating pornographic deepfakes are written to prohibit “digital forgeries,” “false” images, or media “indistinguishable” from “authentic” recordings. Yet the typical anti-deepfake law covers materials that aren’t forgeries, aren’t false, and that reasonable observers can easily distinguish from authentic recordings. Though drafted as if they regulate statements of fact, anti-deepfake laws actually target certain outrageous depictions per se—and rightly so, because pornographic deepfakes cause harm irrespective of their truth or falsity. However, the inapposite language of facts results in statutes with crucial ambiguities. Moreover, because anti-deepfake laws ban outrageous depictions irrespective of the factual assertions they make, they differ fundamentally …