Digital Commons Network^™

Machine Learning-Based Intrusion Detection System For Iot Networks Using The Rt-Iot 2022 Dataset, Bukunmi Ebenezer Afolabi

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed modern computing by enabling seamless connectivity among heterogeneous devices across diverse application domains. However, this increased interconnectivity has significantly enlarged the attack surface of IoT networks, exposing them to a wide range of sophisticated cyber threats. Conventional security mechanisms often lack the capability to detect emerging attacks in real time, thereby necessitating the development of intelligent Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) capable of accurately identifying malicious network activities. This study developed and evaluated a machine learning-based intrusion detection framework for multiclass IoT attack detection using the RT-IoT2022 dataset. The dataset …

Survivors Of Historical Intergenerational And Familial Trauma Scale For Black American Descendants Of Enslaved People: A Development And Initial Validation Study, Loryn Chás Kimbrough

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Despite extensive research documenting cultural and racialized trauma, no validated assessment tool had previously captured the intrafamilial mechanisms of trauma transmission specific to the BADEP population, whose trauma lineage is rooted in slavery. The present study addresses this gap through the development and initial validation of the Survivors of Historical Intergenerational and Familial Trauma Scale (SHIFTS), a culturally grounded instrument designed to measure the transmission of historical trauma (HT) and ongoing intergenerational trauma (IGT) among Black American Descendants of Enslaved People (BADEPs). The SHIFTS examines how HT gives rise to the continued transmission of two interrelated legacies: survival-based and trauma-rooted …

Student Familiarity With The Periodic Table Of The Elements: Results From Cued-Recall And Eye-Tracking Assessments On Memory, Victor A. Okuo

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Learning element symbol–name associations and the spatial organization of elements on the periodic table is a foundational step in learning chemistry, supporting later understanding of chemical formulas, equations, bonding, and stoichiometry. Although students often rely on memorization strategies to learn periodic table content, this task is challenging due to the large number of elements and the apparent ambiguity in matching some element symbols to their names.

This study explores students’ recall of element names when given element symbols as cues and their knowledge of element locations on the periodic table when given element names as cues. The study also examines …

Mouse Models For Post-Sepsis Syndrome, John Matthew K. Ang, Stephanie F. Mori, Erick Lewis, Maria E.C. Bruno, Arnold Stromberg, Hiroshi Saito

Surgery Faculty Publications

Background – Sepsis survivors commonly suffer from chronic Post-Sepsis Syndrome (PSS). To understand the mechanisms of PSS, it is critical to utilize appropriate animal models. While cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) is a widely used model of sepsis, a concern exists regarding its suitability for studying long-term outcomes. Alternatively, we previously optimized a highly reproducible murine cecal slurry (CS)-injection model of sepsis. The objective of this study was to compare the suitability of CS and CLP models for investigating PSS. Methods – Male 4-month-old C57BL/6 mice were divided into 7 groups: (1) Naïve control; (2) Sham: laparotomy control; (3) CL: …

Faces Of Formalism, Jeffrey A. Pojanowski

Journal Articles

Formalist approaches to legal interpretation, such as textualism and originalism, are ascendant in federal statutory and constitutional law. Yet with success have come uncertainty and dissatisfaction. Formalists and their critics observe that textualism and originalism can seem as open-ended as the purposive and dynamic methods they were supposed to replace. This Article tries to diagnose the source of this discontent. It does so by identifying two different faces of formalist interpretation: the formalism of authority—adherence to original sources of law—and the formalism of method—constraint through predictable, rule-bound interpretation. Defenses of formalism often assume these two paths to constraint run together, …

Assessing Sustainable E-Cigarette Prevention Messaging In Public Health Communication, Addo Anim Adinkrah

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the sustainability of e-cigarette or vaping prevention messaging on X (formerly Twitter) and the message-design strategies used by public health institutions to maintain message visibility over time. Using the McGuire Communication/Persuasion Model and Media Framing theoretical frameworks, the research employs a qualitative thematic analysis based on Braun and Clarke’s six-phase approach to analyze 506 tweets from official accounts affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The findings reveal that prevention messages are sustained through repeated core warnings and reinforcement of institutional authority rooted in scientific and …

The Only Duck I’Ve Ever Loved Is Daffy In Drag: A Textual Analysis Of Gender Norm Reinforcement In The Looney Tunes Show, Sara Bahaji

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In 2011, Warner Brother’s latest attempt to make Looney Tunes appeal to modern audiences was released, The Looney Tunes Show. This was a departure from classic Looney Tunes, from its slice-of-life sitcom setting to the changes in the characters. But one of the ways it stood out in not just classic Looney Tunes but contemporary cartoons, was its treatment of Daffy Duck. This thesis is a textual analysis of the show’s presentation of Daffy Duck’s gender. Different frameworks were used to build the analytic tools: signifying theory, as presented by Savoy (1995), gender accountability from West & Zimmerman (1987) and …

Facial Recognition And Social And Academic Outcomes Among College Students, Stephanie Lynn Chase

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Although facial recognition is a newer area of research, there is some evidence to suggest a deficit in facial recognition may be associated with poor social and academic outcomes (Dalrymple, Fletcher, et al., 2014; Diaz, 2008). There is also evidence to suggest potential behavioral overlap between poor facial recognition and ADHD (Diaz, 2008). Using a sample of 224 undergraduate students across multiple psychology classes, the current study expanded the literature in three ways. First, by finding the prevalence of individuals with facial recognition deficits among college students. Second by examining the association between facial recognition and social and academic outcomes …

Plant Practices And Community At The Heart Of Hopewell: Paleoethnobotany At The Overly Site And Beyond, Abigail Deewaard

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Paleoethnobotanical analyses of Ohio Hopewell habitation sites in past decades have shed light on the subsistence practices, settlement patterns, and environmental management of Indigenous peoples engaged in what archaeologists describe as the Hopewell phenomenon. However, comparatively less attention has been paid to the social dimensions of plant use, particularly at habitation sites in the Scioto Hopewell region. Hopewell is an archaeological term that refers to the Middle Woodland (ca. 100 BCE–400 CE) network of interregional relationships across eastern North America characterized by long-distance exchange, monumental earthwork construction, and ceremonial practices including the honoring of ancestors. This thesis applies a social …

Bayesian Inference For A 12-Level Galton Board Using Terminal Bin Counts, Ace Frieders

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A Galton board is a physical device in which a ball passes through a triangular array of pegs and is deflected left or right before landing in one of several bins. Under an idealized model, deflections are independent with probability 0.5 of moving right, implying a binomial distribution for the terminal bin location. Physical boards may deviate from this ideal due to asymmetries and other sources of bias. This thesis develops a Bayesian model for a 12-level Galton board in which each peg has its own right-move probability. Independent Beta priors are assigned to peg probabilities, and terminal bin counts …

Hallucination Detection In Scientific Writing: Quantification, Trend Analysis And Benchmarking, Adiba Ibnat Hossain

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The landscape of scientific communication has undergone a significant transformation with the emergence and widespread adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs). LLMs have enhanced productivity and creativity in scientific writing, raising serious questions about the faithfulness and reliability of the generated content. A common problem in LLMs is hallucination, which occurs when models generate fluent but inaccurate or inconsistent content. When hallucinations enter scientific writing, the intended meaning may be distorted, coherence disrupted, and the study’s overall integrity threatened.

This thesis investigates hallucinations in scientific writing from both an analytical and dataset-driven approach. First, it offers a comprehensive analysis of …

A Multi-Study Examination Of Student-Athlete Mental Health And Mental Health Service Delivery In Mid-Major College Athletic Programs, Grace Louis

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Student-athlete mental health has become a central priority in intercollegiate athletics, with the NCAA emphasizing its Mental Health Best Practices (2016) and strengthening and expanding these standards through updated recommendations in 2024. These efforts reflect a broader cultural shift toward recognizing the unique psychological stressors faced by college athletes, including performance pressure, identity foreclosure, high time demands, and transitions both into and out of sport (Moreland et al., 2018; Hughes & Leavey, 2012). Additionally, student-athletes frequently delay or avoid help-seeking due to stigma, time constraints, identity-protective behaviors, cultural norms emphasizing toughness, and limited mental health literacy (Gulliver et al., 2012; …

High-Throughput Strip Clustering On Fpgas For The Hl-Lhc, Hayden Shaddix

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

With the advent of the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), the demand for modern approaches to high-throughput data processing has increased substantially. The HL-LHC will deliver far higher collision rates (pile-up reaching ⟨μ⟩ ∼200), producing a dramatic rise in detector activity and placing significant pressure on real-time reconstruction algorithms. One strategy for meeting this challenge is to leverage commodity hardware such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and graphics processing units (GPUs), which can accelerate bandwidth-intensive portions of the reconstruction chain. In particular, FPGAs programmed through high-level synthesis (HLS) offer a promising balance between flexibility and performance, allowing physicists to design …

K–12 Teacher Intention To Use A Makerspace: An Analysis Using The Unified Theory Of Acceptance And Use Of Technology, Kevin W. Rutter

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the factors that relate to K–12 teachers' intention to use a makerspace for classroom instruction. It uses the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as its theoretical framework. The research addresses gaps in the United States' achievement in STEM subjects and explores makerspaces as a potential instructional innovation that encourages student-centered, interdisciplinary, project-based learning. A quantitative, correlational case study design was employed to survey 120 staff members at a large urban high school in the Midwest with a dedicated makerspace. Survey items were adapted from the UTAUT model to assess three predictor variables: performance …

Can A "Good Jab" Lead To A "Good Job?": Teasing As An Organizational Performance Feedback Tool, Jared P. Wilson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Performance feedback is a valuable tool for bolstering workplace performance, but the prospect of receiving feedback is often aversive, leading to decreased acceptance, increased turnover intent, and increased recipient stress. One plausible explanation for why critical feedback can be aversive is that feedback is face-threatening. Politeness theory suggests that pro social agents can intentionally attenuate face-threat while still communicating intrinsically threatening information. Pro-social teasing, a humorous form of off-record communication, is one such method, offering a potentially less aversive mode of performance feedback. A sample of 133 participants read a vignette where they took on the role of a grocery …

Just Okay Is Not Okay, Cam Torrens

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A career Air Force commander who's spent thirty years teaching decisive leadership avoids the one confrontation that would complicate his retirement.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

International Students Experience Show: A Television Content To Prepare African Students For Study In The United States., Eric Atsu Senyo

Masters Theses

For many African students, studying in the United States begins with hope but often leads to confusion, isolation, and unmet expectations. This creative thesis presents International Students Experience Show, a 26-minute television shows designed to prepare African students for the realities of studying in the U.S. Grounded in Uses and Gratifications Theory, the project positions media as an active tool for empowerment through storytelling, practical guidance, and emotional engagement.

The series addresses key challenges, housing, transportation, mobile communication and daily life experiences through a hybrid format of personal testimonies, panel discussions, expert interviews, and field segments. Featuring nine African international …

The Final Boys' Club: Conceptualizing A Final Boy Of 1980s Horror, Ej Newton

Masters Theses

Carol J Clover’s (2015) Final Girl, the female slasher protagonist who survives to the end of the movie, has become a staple of horror scholarship, providing insight into the function of gender within the genre as well as our cultural beliefs surrounding femininity. Given the attention paid to horror’s leading ladies, however, another fascinating figure has gone unexplored: the Final Boy. This project analyzes nine horror films from the 1980s with young male protagonists in order to conceptualize and critique this previously unidentified trope. Utilizing McKerrow’s (1989) critical rhetoric as a guide, this research not only provides a thorough definition …

It Takes A Village: Residents’ Perceptions Of Mount Prospect’S Place Branding, Jenna Strauss

Masters Theses

The Village of Mount Prospect has heard a fair share of negative critiques about the village’s branding; however, officials have not yet taken the initiative to rebrand. As stated by a village official, the village needs to understand what residents think about the branding before considering a rebrand. This knowledge offers valuable insight into what branding elements are liked/valued by residents, but also whether a rebrand would cause resistance or a mini crisis. Place branding literature highlights that residents determine the authenticity of a place brand (Braun et al., 2013), so Mount Prospect officials seek to make future branding decisions …

“To Hell With Words, [Say] Something!”: An Expressivist Manifesto For The Revival Of Authentic Voice Amid Robocolonial Echoes Of Llms In Composition Studies, Dani Rose Fitch

Masters Theses

This article explores the intersection of composition pedagogy and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), arguing that large language models (LLMs) impose a robocolonial standardization of language. By mass-producing algorithmically predictable text based on Standard American English (SAE), LLMs threaten the tenets of Students’ Right to Their Own Language (SRTOL) and drown out diverse linguistic identities. The author distinguishes between the embodied, intentional discovery of meaning in human intelligence and the voiceless echo of formulaic LLM generation.

Applying Baudrillard’s theory of simulation, the author positions GenAI-produced texts as pure simulacra—copies that have lost all connection to a human referent. By synthesizing Baudrillard’s …

Shadow Of The Rising Sun: How Japanese Culture Was Transferred To The United States Via Foreign Policy, Alex Pearson

Masters Theses

Post-World War II U.S. economic foreign policy towards Japan aimed to revitalize the war-torn country’s economy and spread democracy to the East. The economic foreign policy enacted by the United States to revitalize the Japanese economy resulted in an increase and “normalization” of Japanese culture in America. This thesis explores the connection of post-war American foreign policy to the increase of American exposure to Japanese culture that sparked normalization. By focusing on the efforts of U.S. policymakers and the positive media coverage of Japanese culture in the United States, a clear correlation between economic foreign policy and the normalization of …

Hierarchical Analysis Of Predictors Of Public Speaking Anxiety, Ruimin Peng

Masters Theses

Public speaking anxiety (PSA) is a prevalent type of phobia that shares many similarities with social anxiety. This paper examines factors related to social anxiety and PSA. Previous literature has identified self-efficacy, perfectionism, and fear of negative evaluation (FNE) as factors related to both social anxiety and PSA. However, less attention has been given to fear of positive evaluation (FPE) and international status, although these two factors are likely related to PSA. This study employed hierarchical regression analysis to investigate the predictive power of FPE and international status on PSA, while controlling for self-efficacy, perfectionism, and FNE. FPE, academic status, …

Personality-Based Clinical Predictors Of Transdiagnostic Suicidality In Emotional Disorders, Harshini Arun

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Layers Of Biodiversity: Linking Urban Garden Plants And Arthropods, Chenyang Su

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Diverse arthropods play essential roles in urban agriculture, while urban agriculture provides food and habitat that support arthropod biodiversity in fragmented urban landscapes. In urban community gardens, a form of urban agriculture characterized by allotment-style gardens, arthropods interact with plants and green space across multiple spatial scales of management, from individual gardeners' plots to broad urban landscapes. Understanding how plant communities in urban community gardens and urban landscapes shape arthropod biodiversity and interactions across scales can inform both agricultural management and urban biodiversity conservation. In this thesis, I conducted a series of field studies on ecologically and economically important arthropods …

Legitimacy And Accountability In The Information-Era Administrative State, Nina-Simone Edwards

Library Scholarship

The current assault on administrative institutions and the rapid influx of automated “solutions” have exacerbated the problems of a system that was already buckling under the strains of functional opacity, technical opacity, unequal access and influence, process proliferation and paralysis, and inaction. An overarching reason for the legitimacy and accountability challenges confronting the administrative state is a paradigm for administrative legitimacy and accountability that is court-centered and no longer fit for purpose.

In this concept paper, we describe two core requirements of legitimacy and accountability–which, as we will explain, are interdependent concepts–and then articulate three component requirements–transparency and demystification, care …

Exploring The Academic Trajectories Of Transfer Students Enrolled In An Introduction To Proof Course And Their Self-Efficacy For Proving, Sundas Hussain

Mathematics Dissertations

Transfer students entering proof-based mathematics courses face a double transition: they are adjusting to a new institution while simultaneously learning to construct mathematical proofs. Although transfer students have been widely studied in higher education and self-efficacy for proving has received increasing attention in mathematics education, little research has examined the intersection of these two areas. The purpose of this study was to better understand how transfer students’ academic trajectories shape their self-efficacy for proving. This multiple case study examined twelve transfer students enrolled in an Introduction to Proofs (ITP) course, using Bandura's (1997) four sources of self-efficacy as the …

Course Portfolio For A New Course On Data Analysis And Visualization In Animal Research, Jessie C. Morrill

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This course portfolio describes the design and development of a new course focused on data analysis and visualization in animal research at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. The course was developed to meet the needs of students enrolled in Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy graduate programs in the Department of Animal Science as well as those in the Master of Applied Science in Beef Cattle Production program. The new course was taught on an exploratory basis in Fall 2024 and Fall 2025; the perspectives of both students and the instructor are contained within this portfolio. The reflections …

Assessing Global Citizenship Pathways In A Communication, Advocacy, And Global Citizenship Classroom In The Midwest, Satveer Kaur-Gill

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

To assess instruction in an undergraduate communication course titled Communication, Advocacy, and Global Citizenship, this qualitative inquiry examined how undergraduate students at a Midwest university engaged with global citizenship as a communicative process by conducting a content analysis of student assignments, guided by three key research questions formulated from four course objectives. The assessment found that place-based learning on global issues enhanced students' understanding of the meaning of global citizenship in a globalized world. Based on a qualitative evaluation of their key assignments, students successfully articulated threads and connections between local community concerns and issues as globally situated communicative phenomena. …

First Portfolio – Mngt 475: Business Strategies, Lisa Tschauner

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

MNGT 475: Business Strategies serves as the undergraduate strategic management capstone course in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Business. The course integrates knowledge from accounting, finance, economics, marketing, management, supply chain management, analytics, and entrepreneurship while providing students with opportunities to apply strategic frameworks to authentic business challenges. This portfolio documents the design, implementation, assessment, and continuous improvement of the course, with particular attention given to experiential learning and the comparison of two instructional models: a traditional case-study project and a real-world industry-partner consulting project. Drawing upon Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory, self-reflection, self-efficacy, and teamwork constructs, the portfolio examines …

Learning About Land Through Indigenous Storywork, Critical Information Literacy, And Archival Research At The Northern Shores Storywork Project Site, Kel Sassi

Journal Articles

This article takes a critical approach to an Information Literacy and Leadership Institute (Institute) for Upper Peninsula K-12 educators with the goal of coming to terms with the dispossession of Indigenous peoples in the region. Participants learned about critical information literacy in relation to archival materials about settler colonization and resource extraction and created curriculum materials for their classrooms. Facilitators designed institute activities with Archibald’s Indigenous Storywork principles in mind and analyzed the outcomes through this framework. The focus on land was reflected in teacher materials, but could be integrated more deeply in future institutes.