Digital Commons Network^™

The Prophylactic Landscape: Sand And Typhoid On The Merrimack River, Laila Seewang

School of Architecture Faculty Publication and Presentations

“The first municipal water filter of the rapid sand type was built at Somerville, NJ, and thus began its wonderful history.”  By 1917 the rapid sand filter was the standard defense against typhoid epidemics in the United States.

Helically Flexible Boron-Dipyrromethenes For Solution-Processed Isotropic Films With Preserved Chiral Exciton Coupling, Carolina Díaz-Norambuena, Juan Manuel Moreno-Naranjo, David Reger, Giuliano Siligardi, César Ray, Jessica Colligan, Florencio Moreno, Beatriz L. Maroto, Gilles Muller, Jorge Bañuelos, Matthew J. Fuchter, Santiago De La Moya

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Chiral organic thin films are emerging as key materials in advanced optoelectronic and chiroptical technologies, where the straightforward, solution-processed fabrication of chiroptically active neat films from small π-conjugated helical molecules is highly desirable for sustainable and scalable device integration. However, in such densely packed systems, the intrinsic chiroptical response is often compromised by macroscopic anisotropies (e.g., linear dichroism and birefringence) and aggregation-induced effects, which obscure genuine molecular signatures and induce or alter chiral exciton coupling. Here, we demonstrate that a readily accessible and conformationally flexible helically chiral boron-dipyrromethene dimer (helicoBODIPY) platform enables the reproducible fabrication of robust solution-processed neat thin …

Examining Six Domains Of Resilience With Latinx College Students From Migrant Farmworker Backgrounds: A Quasi-Experimental Single Case Design Study, Rebecca Dickinson, Raissa Miller, Cian L. Brown, G Michael Russo, Emma Knowles

Trauma Counseling and Resilience

Resilience-building interventions show promise in higher education, yet few studies focus on Latinx college students from migrant farmworker backgrounds (LMFWs), a group facing significant challenges such as acculturative stress, mixed familial immigration status, and educational discontinuity. This quasi-experimental single-case design study examined resilience domains among LMFW students participating in a group-based intervention informed by the predictive 6-factor resilience model. Resilience was measured across six domains: collaboration, vision, tenacity, reasoning, health, and composure, using standardized assessments adapted from Rossouw and Rossouw (2018). Pre- and post-intervention scores were visually analyzed to assess change at the individual level. Results indicated a evidence of …

Padres Ayudando A Padres: Co-Constructing A Family-Centered Mental Health Intervention Of, By, And For Central American Immigrant Parents, Rachael Goodman, Colleen K. Vesely, Maribel Tohara Nakamatsu, Victoria Stone, Valeria Quintana, Bethany Letiecq, Amigas De La Comunidad

Trauma Counseling and Resilience

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, our partners in a Central American immigrant enclave reported an increasing need to support parents and children whose mental health was negatively impacted by the confluence of underlying systemic stressors and traumatic experiences. Using our existing family-centered participatory action research (FCPAR; Letiecq, Vesely, et al., 2022) approach and guided by the transcreation model (Nápoles & Stewart, 2018), we co-constructed a mental health intervention in partnership with community members, via our community advisory board (CAB). Essential to this process was building the intervention with the community, ensuring that it was culturally and contextually grounded …

Bekizine: A Zine Featuring Selected Queer Artists And Narratives, Daniel D. Sullano, Alex Ayson, Arianna Atas, Renee Sophia Caponong, Merix Kobi Blancaflor, Fernando R. Lacson

DLSU Arts Congress Conference Proceedings

Media serves as a powerful medium for shaping cultural norms and self-perception. Despite increasing visibility in Philippine media, LGBTQ+ representation remains dominated by metropolitan-centric narratives and reductive tropes that overlook the nuanced realities of provincial queer life. The study explored how BEKIZINE, a community-centered zine created by and for LGBTQ+ individuals aged 18–30 in Cavite, can serve as alternative media for self-expression, community building, and historical preservation. Adopting a practice-based, mixed-methods approach, the study integrates Queer Theory, Safe Space Theory, and Alternative Media Theory through semi-structured interviews with local queer artists and individuals, followed by zine launch evaluation surveys. Qualitative …

Budol-Budol Time: A Perspective From The Global South On Generation Z’S Digital Status Consumption Through An Interactive Video, Luis Angelo Francisco Lopa, Kateleen Claire Malabag Gonzales, Jaedon Tongol Santos Jats

DLSU Arts Congress Conference Proceedings

This research critiques the contemporary digital landscape, as social media influencers shape Gen Z's consumer behavior, often driving "status overconsumption," the repetitive purchase of trending goods to enhance social standing. The study investigates the complex relationship between social media exposure and consumption patterns among affluent Gen Z (ages 13 to 28) in Laguna, Makati, Taguig, and Quezon City, Philippines. Its objective is to address the environmental consequences of these behaviors, including excess waste and carbon emissions from production and related industries, which consumers often overlook. Grounded in social comparison and status consumption theories, the research utilizes a sequential mixed-methods triangulation …

Drawn For A Brighter Tomorrow: A Functional Art Workshop As A Path To Livelihood And Skills Development Under The Pasay Social Welfare And Development Department (Pswdd), Liane Oxana V. Estuesta, Giana Margaux D. Bustos, Anne Kirsten Cerish S. Gamayo, Julia Patrish P. Go

DLSU Arts Congress Conference Proceedings

This study examines how functional art workshops, where creativity results in usable, real-world objects, can be a tool for livelihood and skills development among children in need of special protection aged 7-17 under the Pasay Social Welfare and Development Department (PSWDD). Specifically, grounded in arts-based and qualitative research, the study seeks to understand how exposure to functional art-making can support participants’ confidence, agency, and practical competencies. Data was gathered through primary sources, including a needs assessment survey, semi-structured interviews with youth participants and administrators after the program, and visual documentation of completed artworks. Secondary sources were also used, including published …

Bikolearn: Enhancing Bicol Language Proficiency Among Heritage Learners, Nathalie T. Lim-Cheng, Mark E. Abergos, Joshua H. Baccaro, Edward E. Tab, Christian A. Dela Peña

DLSU Arts Congress Conference Proceedings

Heritage learners are individuals with cultural ties to a language but also who lack proficiency in them, therefore often struggling to maintain their linguistic heritage. This is a common challenge for Filipino Bicol Language learners, especially those who grew up outside the region. This paper presents BikoLearn, a new web application designed to help heritage learners acquire the Bikol Language starting at the A1 beginner level. The application, which is designed first for mobile phones, mixes gamification features with relevant cultural content to make learning accessible. Through formatted lessons, interactive quizzes, and progress tracking presented in a gamified format, BikoLearn …

Phantoms Of The Self: An Art Installation On The Commodification Of Anik-Anik Culture, Vito Lomod, Minuet Deniña, Jaihzel Failana, Joshua R. Marcial

DLSU Arts Congress Conference Proceedings

The practice of anik-anik culture remains relevant and prominent among Filipinos, especially among Gen Z. Decorating, collecting, and preserving miscellaneous items as an extension of one’s identity and memory exemplifies the Filipino maximalist aesthetic. In context, Filipinos are naturally inclined to be maximalists, driven by the desire to connect and the tendency to fill empty spaces, hence the aesthetic of Filipino maximalism. Usually, this is evidenced in, but not limited to, consumption and fashion practices. Correspondingly, its current practices have also sparked discussions about the effects of consumerism and the dilution of the origins of anik-anik, which is deeply rooted …

Kapwa Beckett: Co-Performance, Pakikipagkapwa, And Relational Meaning-Making In Philippine Stagings Of Samuel Beckett, Christian Gabriel Tolentino

DLSU Arts Congress Conference Proceedings

This reflective-practice study examines how kapwa and pakikipagkapwa emerged through translation, rehearsal, staging, and reception in three Philippine productions of Samuel Beckett: Endgame (2016), Happy Days (2019), and the devised classroom piece Beckett, Godot & Us Waiting (2023). Using comparative production analysis and a dialogical co-performance orientation drawn from Dwight Conquergood, I analyze rehearsal exercises, adaptation notes, production materials, staging decisions, and remembered performer-audience encounters. The analysis identifies distinct relational practices across the productions: collaborative localization and sensory dramaturgy in Endgame; negotiated media adaptation and mediated intimacy in Happy Days; and devising, Meisner repetition, physical trust, and shared post-pandemic waiting …

Atomos Komiks - Making Learning Fun With Science Entertainment, Jerome Aizpuro Suplemento Ii, Julius Noah Hernandez Sempio

DLSU Arts Congress Conference Proceedings

With portable digital devices imposing themselves on the already precarious attention span of the Filipino youth, and with raising concerns about degrading literacy of schoolchildren, it is imperative to find creative and entertaining means to inspire the young studentry to engage in dedicated educational materials. This paper explains the methods being used by a small group of artists, scientists and writers to create content for “science entertainment” in comics format. By combining principles of conceptual compression, knowledge indexing and low-elaboration persuasion techniques to develop knowledge “anchors”, the team aims to generate participatory engagement among readers and stimulate their cognitive innovation. …

Indigenous Pedagogies As An Arts-Based Framework For Education 4.0, Andylyn Simeon

DLSU Arts Congress Conference Proceedings

While Education 4.0 promises to cultivate 21st-century skills like creativity and critical thinking, the reality often falls short. Current frameworks are heavily technocentric, prioritizing digital tools and measurable data over the communal, emotional, and spiritual depth that true learning requires. This paper argues that we can restore balance to this digital shift by looking toward Indigenous Pedagogies (IPs). Far from being “obsolete” relics of the past, these are sophisticated, arts-based systems rooted in storytelling, ritual, and land-based creation that can offer a creative blueprint for the human-centered goals that Education 4.0 claims to value. Through a qualitative synthesis, I deconstruct …

Effectiveness Of The Smart Me-De Digital Program On Health Literacy And Glycemic Control In Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes, Nongnaphat Rungnoei, Siriporn Kruttakart, Natthapan Phianthanyakam, Pakaporn Klinhom, Umaporn Nokpaet, Jintipa Sirikunwiwat, Burong Jaitham

Journal of Health Research

Background: Individuals newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes often have limited knowledge and self-management skills, leading to poor glycemic control and increased complications. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Smart ME-DE Digital Program in improving health literacy and glycated hemoglobin levels among newly diagnosed individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted with seventy participants recruited from diabetes clinics at three hospitals in a central province of Thailand. They were selected using simple random sampling and matched by gender, age, and baseline HbA1c levels, and allocated to an experimental or comparison group. The experimental group received …

Comparing Principal Component Analysis And Sequential Fusion Deeponet With Varying Dataset Size For Design Space Exploration Of Hypersonic Flow, J. Dallan Trentman

Theses and Dissertations

Design space exploration and optimization of hypersonic vehicles is costly due to the difficulty of producing high fidelity CFD simulations in the hypersonic domain. Reduced order modeling can allow for design optimization at a fraction of the computational cost. This paper investigates the amount of training data required to produce an accurate Reduced Order Model. A PCA based ROM is developed and compared to a Sequential Fusion DeepONet by comparing model prediction accuracy, training time, and prediction time, across dataset sizes from 25 samples to 1024 samples. These models are applied to 2D hypersonic CFD simulations of the Orion reentry …

Rfsoc Based Ground Penetrating Radar For Detection And Avoidance Of Underground Utilities, Brady Bowerbank

Theses and Dissertations

Preexisting underground utilities present a considerable danger to underground boring projects. Gas and electrical lines can be damaged, leading to major economic impact and even loss of life. While maps of underground utilities exist, they are not always accurate and gas and electrical lines can shift over time, necessitating tools to accurately detect utilities so that crews can steer the machines away from any possible danger. In this thesis, the design of a new frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) ground penetrating radar (GPR) is outlined. The design of a lightweight, flexible radar is demonstrated using the CASPER FPGA framework with an operating …

Isoperimetric Soft Robots, Mihai Stanciu

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents two advances in isoperimetric soft robotic trusses that improve their performance, modularity, and configurability. The first contribution introduces a large-scale modular robotic truss designed as a lightweight, reconfigurable structure for lunar applications. The system consists of inflatable fabric tubes routed through motorized roller units and interconnected by a newly developed spherical joint that enables multiple robotic triangles to connect at a common vertex. The resulting truss can be assembled into structures beyond a single octahedron while retaining compact stowage when deflated and untethered operation after initial inflation. Experimental validation demonstrates modular assembly, long-term pressure retention, load-bearing capabilities …

Mir172-Ap2 Controls Age-Dependent Regeneration Competence In Populus, Kaiwen Lyu, Abdul Azeez, Victor Busov

Michigan Tech Publications

Plants maintain remarkable regenerative potential, yet this capacity declines with developmental age, limiting clonal propagation and biotechnological applications. Here, we show that the miR172-AP2 module serves as a central determinant of regeneration competence in Populus. Regenerative capacity declines progressively along the shoot developmental gradient, correlating with elevated miR172 and reduced AP2 transcript levels. Functional analyses demonstrate that AP2 promotes both shoot and root regeneration by directly activating downstream transcriptional programmes, including AINTEGUMENTA-LIKE1, BIG LEAF and LIKE APETALA1, which regulate organogenic growth and developmental competence. Elevated miR172 or cytokinin signalling represses AP2, reducing regenerative outcomes, indicating that hormonal and developmental signals …

Ábreme La Puerta Y Entraré: Utilizing Hip Hop Pedagogy To Build Community For English Learners With Disabilities, Ebony Nicole Perez, Georgina Rivera-Singletary

Journal of the Arts and Special Education

English Language Learners (ELL) with disabilities face complex educational experiences due to their limited English-speaking ability, coupled with their unique learning challenges. Often, they are viewed from a deficit rather than an asset perspective, leading them to feelings of isolation and marginalization. Providing opportunities to engage in transformative learning experiences, ELL students with disabilities can experience a sense of belonging and empowerment in educational endeavors. Hip-hop can offer dynamic opportunities for ELL students with disabilities by creating an inclusive, affirming space that validates diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Through Hip-hop cyphers, rap battles, and collaborative songwriting, students can grasp new …

Flows That Teach: Multimodal Hip-Hop Pedagogy For Equity In Special Education, Camille O'Quin, Sara Jozwik

Journal of the Arts and Special Education

Hip-Hop can be more than a soundtrack played at home, it can be a bridge between culture, language, and learning at school. This article shows how Hip-Hop pedagogy, translanguaging, and code-meshing can support students with disabilities, especially those who speak African American Vernacular English (AAVE), in the classroom setting. Grounded in culturally relevant pedagogy and translanguaging theory, the approach uses rhythm, storytelling, and performance to build narrative fluency, language awareness, and confidence. Examples include students drafting rap verses about personal experiences, holding structured cypher circles to practice turn-taking and self-expression, and blending AAVE with Mainstream American English in writing for …

Focus Daily: Jase Special Issue On Hip-Hop, Disability, And The Continuing Evolution Of Arts-Based Pedagogy In Special Education (Side B), Jonte C. Taylor

Journal of the Arts and Special Education

Hip-hop has long served as an educational tradition, emerging from the Bronx as a cultural response to systemic inequities that fostered identity, critical consciousness, creativity, and community through its core elements of emceeing, DJing, breaking, graffiti, and knowledge of self. In this second special hip-hop issue of the Journal of the Arts in Special Education (JASE) and building on the initial 2025 JASE special issue, this collection advances hip-hop pedagogy beyond an engagement strategy by positioning it as a culturally inclusive framework that supports academic achievement, identity affirmation, and meaningful participation for students with disabilities. The contributing scholars explore how …

We Are All In This Together Now: Exploring Community Based Partnerships Focusing On Hip-Hop Based Education, William C. Hunter, Tarol Page Clements, Gregory Washington

Journal of the Arts and Special Education

This article explores a community-based collaborative partnership between three Hip-Hop educational nonprofits, Upward Light Community Cyphers, Project STAND (Social-Emotional, Transition, Academic and Network Developing), and the Center for the Advancement of Youth Development (CAYD), all focused on mental health support for youth, and a public-school program that has serves students with and without exceptionalities. The goal shared by all organizations involved is enhanced educational access and engagement for students with and without exceptionalities. Rooted in the core elements of Hip-Hop — emceeing, DJing/music production, breakdancing, and graffiti art, the collaborative partnership has offered culturally sustaining, arts-integrated instruction that supports both …

Developing Flow Theory For Black Girl Genius: A Conceptual Framework Grounded In Discrit, Endarkened Feminist Epistemology, And Hip-Hop Pedagogy, Keishana L. Barnes, William C. Hunter

Journal of the Arts and Special Education

Twice exceptional Black girls, those who are both intellectually gifted and identified with a disability, navigate classrooms shaped by racism, ableism, and sexism. These overlapping systems often render their brilliance illegible, leading to misidentification, exclusion, and under-support in both gifted and special education. This conceptual essay introduces Flow Theory for Black Girl Genius, a liberatory framework that considers Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), Endarkened Feminist Epistemology, and Hip-Hop Pedagogy. DisCrit helps uncover the structural barriers that marginalize students at the intersection of race and disability. Endarkened Feminist Epistemology centers ancestral, embodied, and spiritual ways of knowing rooted in Black …

Ai And The Music Industry: Its Current Status And A Speculative Projection Of Its Evolutionary Trajectory, Rhett D. Morris, Clayton Rosati, Stefan Fritsch

Honors Projects

Music serves as one of society's biggest cultural outlets, allowing millions to share in what used to be a uniquely human form of expression. The commodification of music has built a huge industry full of companies and platforms that have used technology and property laws to shape music's relationship with the public. This study aims to look into the future to see how AI and its implementation could affect the structure of the music industry. To look into the future, this piece establishes two of the most pressing kinds of AI technology for the music industry and looks to contextualize …

Implementing An Intercultural Journal Club For Graduate Nursing Students, Becky Davis, Helen Ewing, Shelly Luger, Augustine Ndaimani

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

In June of 2025, two private universities – one in the Midwestern US and the other in Rwanda, Africa, entered a partnership and began collaborating on a DNP program with emphasis on global health, leadership, and advanced level nursing. While the idea of international academic partnership is not new, in this case, the mutually agreed outcomes were intentional and reciprocal. Both universities have graduate Nursing programs that include a Leadership focus. Even though students are geographically diverse, they are all focused on advancing their professional identity as nurse leaders. As a result, faculty partners launched the intercultural Journal Club (JC) …

Acp Roles, Barriers, And Emotional Labor Of Home Health Nurses In Japan: A Text-Mining Analysis, Yoko Hashimoto, Kumiko Kotake

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Background: Home care in Japan has increased rapidly among older adults and individuals with cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and chronic conditions (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2021). Within this expanding community-based care system, Advance Care Planning (ACP) is essential for supporting patients’ values and end-of-life preferences (Rietjens et al., 2017). Home health nurses, who observe patients’ daily lives closely, play a central role in ACP (Chan et al., 2020). However, their roles and emotional burdens remain underexplored.

Objective: To clarify the roles, barriers, and emotional experiences of home health nurses in ACP support in Japan and identify implications for educational …

Development Of A Cervical Cancer Prevention Education Program For North Korean Female Defectors, Kyung-Hwa Choi, Soo-Young Yu

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

This mixed-method study developed and evaluated a culturally tailored cervical cancer prevention education program for North Korean females, reflecting their unique cultural and health needs. Guided by the Health Belief Model and the ADDIE instructional design, the four-session, 120-minute-per-week program aimed to enhance knowledge of cervical cancer and HPV, strengthen perceived benefits, reduce perceived barriers, and improve self-efficacy regarding preventive behaviors. Educational strategies included interactive lectures, audiovisual materials, cervical model demonstrations, culturally relevant role model sharing, and group discussions to promote engagement and understanding.

A non-equivalent control group pretest–posttest design was applied. The experimental group consisted of 28 females residing …

Supporting My Resilience And Well-Being: Reflections From Pre-Nursing Student, Leslie A. Jennings, Regina W. Urban, Adrianna Vinar

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Background: In 2022, over 138,000 nurses left the U.S. workforce, primarily due to stress and burnout (Smiley et al., 2025). Because nursing students also experience high levels of burnout (Gómez-Urquiza et al., 2023), efforts to reduce burnout should begin during their training. Psychosocial factors, like stress and resilience, are associated with burnout (Al-Alawi et al., 2020) and affect nursing student retention (Sanderson et al., 2021) but are rarely examined in students preparing for admission to nursing school. Among these students, stress is negatively associated with resilience and persistence (Names Withheld, 2022). Strategies to reduce stress must go beyond academics and …

Online Simulation With Actor And Facilitator To Assist Iens Develop Strategies To Address Incivility, Patricia Ann Bradley, Linda Patrick, Elaine Santa Mina, Kirsten Woodend, Ayesha Bhatti

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Internationally educated nurses (IENs) may face obstacles transitioning into the Canadian healthcare environment due to incivility (Cruz, Quicho & Ibañez, 2022). Workplace incivility describes workplace behaviour that is rude, disruptive, and disrespectful and that promotes discord and disharmony (Clark et al., 2020). Incivility has an impact on nurses’ well-being, patient engagement, and patient outcomes (Jackson, Usher, & Cleary, 2024).

We will share the virtual simulation multi-dimensional design, development, and evaluation outcomes that features actors as simulated participants (SPs) and facilitators for the provincially funded Ontario Internationally Educated Nurses Course Consortium concept and competency-bridging program of study for IENs. The learning …

Sustaining A Sense Of Unknowing Of The Risk For Coronary Artery Disease After Gestational Diabetes, Daisy Baldwin

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major global health issue (Khan et al., 2020; Roth et al., 2017; Virani et al., 2021) and affects many women, with one death every 16 minutes in Canada (Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, 2023; Norris & Mulvagh, 2024). Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a rising non-traditional CAD risk factor (Garcia et al., 2016; Mussa et al., 2021; Saeedi et al., 2019), increases women’s CAD risk fourfold (Garcia et al., 2016). Despite this, women often lack knowledge of the long-term risks associated with GDM (Craig et al., 2020; Khooshehchin et al., 2016; Lennon, 2018; …

Co-Designing Success: Supporting New Rns In Their Transition To Practice, Morgan Hoffarth, Robert Mihan, Shanoja Naik, Hasitha Wimalarathna, Doris Grinspun

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Newly graduated nurses (NGNs) face disproportionately high turnover rates compared to experienced nurses, with estimates ranging from 18% to 43% globally¹. This persistent challenge has prompted increased attention to transition-to-practice programs, which aim to support NGNs during their critical first year of work³. Research has identified key facilitators and barriers to successful transition through thematic analysis; however, their recommendations lacked direct input from NGNs themselves, highlighting a gap in participatory approaches³. Understanding the transition experience from NGNs and mentors is essential to design effective, responsive supports⁵. The urgency of this issue has …