Digital Commons Network^™

Brief State And Trait Happiness Scales: Validation And Work Arrangement Differences In Thai Workers, Rapinpat Yodlorchai, Panrapee Suttiwan, Sompoch Iamsupasit

Journal of Health Research

Background: This study aimed to develop and validate brief measures of state (CUHI-S-SF) and trait (CUHI-T-SF) happiness derived from the Chulalongkorn University Happiness Inventory and to examine differences in happiness and psychological distress across work arrangements among Thai working adults.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey collected data from 452 participants using convenience sampling. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted with Sample I (n ¼ 250; Mage ¼ 33.04) to examine internal structure, followed by confirmatory factor analysis with Sample II (n ¼ 202; Mage ¼ 35.29). Independent-samples t tests compared on-site and non—on-site workers on happiness and psychological …

Isolation, Identification And Antibiotic-Resistance Profiling Of Bacteria Isolated From Mobile Phone Surfaces In Karbala., Kawkab Abdullah Alsaadi, Zahraa Raheem Murshidy, Dhuha Ali Hussein, Sura Abd Ali Kadhim, Kawakib Aboudi Hanoon

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Due to the diverse environments that mobile phones are exposed to via human handling they become reservoirs of microorganisms. The objective of the current study was to determine the level and character of bacterial contamination on mobile phones by identifying bacterial strains, and the degree of antimicrobial susceptibility. A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to July 2025 where phones belonging to 115 individuals were randomly chosen from various departments and units at Kerbala University and swabbed. The VITEK 2 automated system was used to identify bacterial taxa and test for antimicrobial susceptibility, and 50 of the swabs exhibited bacterial …

There’S No Place Like Home: A Wizard Of Oz Inspired Self-Portrait, Lana Webster

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This project examines how lived experience shapes creative practice through a digital self-portrait inspired by The Wizard of Oz. Rather than positioning identity as subject matter alone, the work investigates how personal history informs visual decision-making, including posture, composition, colour, and symbolic environment. Using a creative practice research approach supported by autoethnographic reflection, the illustrated artefact and written exegesis operate as interconnected modes of inquiry. The project demonstrates how illustration can hold responsibility, emotional weight, and uncertainty without forcing resolution. It frames creative practice as a way of generating understanding, grounded in lived experience yet shaped through the viewer’s own …

Final Report For Clas 485 Capstone Vōx Antīqua, Aaron Moreno

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This report summarizes and details the process of creating the capstone project Vōx Antīqua, a Greek and Latin pronunciation web course. The site layout, methodology, and creative process are all covered with detailed endnotes, followed by a complete bibliography of all primary and secondary sources consulted. This Digital Humanities resource contains hundreds of audio files covering Greek (in Classical Attic and Post-Classical) and Latin pronunciation, along with sixteen examples of Greek and Latin literature with full audio and original translations. Introduction to syllabification, accentuation, and prosody in both languages is also included.

Examining Nurse Burnout During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Causes And Mitigation Strategies, Melanie Sena

Honors Projects

Nurse burnout is a multidimensional occupational syndrome that predates the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the pandemic served as a catalyst that intensified its scope and severity in ways that the healthcare system was profoundly ill-equipped to manage. Characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a diminished sense of personal accomplishment, burnout among nurses accelerated dramatically between 2020 and 2022 as clinical workloads surged, personal protective equipment remained scarce, and moral distress became a near-universal experience across care settings. This review examines the primary systemic and individual contributors to nurse burnout during COVID-19, explores the consequences of burnout for both nurses and patients, …

The Influence Of The Japanese Language On Gender Perceptions, Jasmine Bishara

Honors Projects

This study aimed to understand the how the Japanese language impacted people’s gender perceptions of women. Previous research showed that there are words and phrases in the Japanese language that are devaluing towards women, and that there are different societal expectations of women in their speech style. There are also different expectations of women’s behavior, which has impacted them in the workplace. Due to a lack of participants, no conclusions can be drawn about how language and social expectations impact how women are perceived in society. However, based on previous research it can be assumed that these issues still remain …

Marching Health From Music To Injury: The Implications Of Marching Band Athletic Training Accessibility, Madelyn Liebhardt

Honors Projects

The following study explores the importance and need of athletic trainers (ATs) in marching band settings. Athletic Training is an essential backbone to many sports programs worldwide. Athletic Trainers are commonly seen as active staff members for many high school, collegiate, professional teams as well as in clinical office sites. Athletic Trainers are also staffed in non-traditional settings such as corporate settings, performing arts, military branches. Marching bands are categorized under non-traditional sports settings and ATs are becoming more highly preferred in this area. This study follows the Bowling Green State University (BGSU) Falcon Marching Band (FMB) during the 2025 …

Pathways To Success, Annabelle Fyke

Honors Projects

This paper explores the importance of creating trauma-informed classrooms to support students’ emotional and academic success. As increasing numbers of students are affected by adverse childhood experiences, educators must adopt approaches that recognize and respond to trauma. The purpose of this paper is to examine key principles of trauma-informed education and how they can be effectively implemented in school settings. Drawing on current research and educational frameworks, this paper highlights strategies such as building strong teacher-student relationships, promoting emotional regulation, and maintaining consistent and supportive classroom environments. The findings suggest that trauma-informed practices can improve student behavior, increase engagement, and …

The Brethren In China: Cross-Cultural Relationships Within An Imperial Structure, Sebastian S. Kochall

History and Political Science Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Agenda April 27, 2026, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• 3:00 Call to Order
• Approval of Minutes - March 30, 2026
• 3:05 University Business
• 3:20 Faculty Senate Business
• 3:35 Report
• Strategic Enrollment Management Annual Report
• Student Success Annual Report
• Committee on Committees Annual Report
• Calendar Committee Annual Report
• 4:00 Information
• EPC Report - April 2, 2026
• 4:15 Additional Business
• Faculty Senate President-Elect
• Format & Responsibilities
• Passing the Gavel
• Adjourn: 4:30 pm

Foundations Of Art: Materials, Methods, And Meaning, Elizabeth Mellott

Art OERs

This course provides an introduction to the tools, materials, and processes used across a wide range of artistic media. The focus is on understanding how different materials shape the way art is created and experienced. Attention is given not only to what artists make, but also to why particular media are chosen to communicate specific ideas, emotions, or perspectives. The physical qualities of materials, the methods used, and the cultural meanings attached to them all influence artistic decision-making.

The course surveys several major categories of artistic media. Pigment-based practices include painting, drawing, and printmaking, where color and mark-making form the …

Career Conversations In Academic Advising: Tools For Integrating Career Into Everyday Advising, Molly Landa

Masters Projects

With a growing concern about the value of higher education, higher education institutions need to adapt to the evolving career needs of students. With the frequent interactions academic advisors have with students, advisors are uniquely positioned to help student align their academic and career plans. However, literature reveals that many academic advisors struggle to have career conversations with students due to a lack of confidence and time with students. Furthermore, the literature illustrates the importance of integrating academic and career advising because it provides students with holistic support that better supports their needs. Therefore, the purpose of this project is …

An Infinite Set Of One-Range Addition Theorems Without An Infinite Second Series, For Slater Orbitals And Their Derivatives, Applicable To Multiple Coordinate Systems, Jack C. Straton

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Addition theorems have been indispensable tools for the reduction of quantum transition amplitudes. They are normally utilized at the start of the process to move the angular dependence within plane waves, Coulomb potentials, and the like, into a sum over spherical harmonics that allows the angular integration to be carried out. These have historically been “two-range” addition theorems, characterized by the two-fold notation r>=Max[r1,r2] and r< =Min[r1,r2] and comprising a single infinite series. More recently, “one-range” addition theorems have been created that have no such piecewise notation, but at the cost of the introduction of another infinite series. We use a very different approach to derive an infinite set of addition theorems for Slater orbitals, hydrogenic and Hylleraas wave functions, and so on, that retain the one-range variable dependence but have, at worst, a finite second series rather than an infinite one. In addition, unlike previous addition theorems, they are applicable to more than one coordinate system. One of these addition theorems may also be used for Yukawa-like functions that may appear late in the reduction of amplitude integrals, and we show its utility for an integral that has stubbornly defied reduction to analytic form for nearly sixty years. Finally, we craft indefinite integrals of 15 half-integer Macdonald functions multiplied by (inverse) powers and negative exponentials containing squares of the integration variable.

Open Multi-Agent Systems: The Free-Range-Zoo Framework And Moasei Competition, Ceferino J. Patino Iv

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The field of multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) has made significant strides in addressing sequential decision-making problems under uncertainty. However, traditional MARL frameworks assume closed-world settings with fixed agent sets, static task distributions, and unchanging environment dynamics. This thesis presents two complementary contributions that advance the state of open-world multi-agent systems research: (1) the free-range-zoo framework, an open-source environment suite for MARL in open environments featuring dynamic agent populations, evolving task sets, and changing operational frames; and (2) the MOASEI Competition, an international benchmarking event that leverages free-range-zoo to evaluate how artificial agents handle openness in complex, partially observable domains. The …

A Daily Assessment Of Food And Alcohol Disturbance And Alcohol Intoxication As Predictors Of Sexual Violence Victimization, Amanda Elizabeth Baildon

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Alcohol-involved sexual violence (SV) is a common and detrimental experience for young adult women. To supplement SV prevention strategies aimed at perpetrators, who are fully responsible for the occurrence of SV, risk reduction programs that target women’s drinking have been implemented with limited efficacy. To improve these programs, research must examine novel predictors like food and alcohol disturbance (FAD) that contribute to SV risk. FAD refers to compensatory behaviors (e.g., restricted eating, excessive exercise) to offset alcohol’s calories or enhance intoxication. Approximately 45% of young adult women engage in FAD, a practice that likely heightens SV risk by facilitating rapid …

The Supreme Court’S New Map Of Federalism, Stephen M. Griffin

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Secluded Strategies: Engaging Uncertainty To Empower Creative Decisions, Chris Lambert

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This paper investigates the role of ambiguity as a source of inspiration and creative agency. Ambiguity is presented not as a limitation, but as a medium through which artists explore, experiment, and generate meaning. Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies, a deck of cryptic prompts designed to provoke reflection and disrupt habitual thinking, illustrates how indeterminate instructions can stimulate the imagination without prescribing outcomes. Building on this principle, the study introduces Secluded Strategies, a personalised deck of Eno-inspired prompts derived from his artistic statements and reflections. Each card serves as an invitation for interpretive engagement, encouraging artists to make active …

Luja Volume 6: Issue 1 (Full Volume)

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Perceptions, Knowledge, And Collaborative Practices In Professional Learning Communities, Josey S. Rodriguez

Education Theses and Dissertations

This Improvement Science Dissertation in Practice (ISDiP) investigates teacher perceptions, knowledge of and collaborative practices of professional learning communities (PLCs) at a Southwest Texas high school. The study used a mixed-methods design utilizing a survey, open-ended questionnaire, PLC observations, and an interview. Participants included 8 mathematics teachers and one campus administrator at a campus with over 800 students in grades nine through twelve. Teacher perceptions of PLCs were analyzed using descriptive statistics for quantitative data, while observations, the open-ended questionnaire, and the interview were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Findings revealed that despite PLC+ training, limited …

Dynamic Individualized Latent Trait (Dilt) Model: Bridging Nomothetic And Idiographic Psychometrics, Muchen Xi

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to develop an analytical framework that bridges the long-standing divide between nomothetic and idiographic approaches to defining the structure of personality and other individual differences. The nomothetic tradition seeks to explain and predict behavior through stable, universal dimensions of personality, while the idiographic approach emphasizes the fine-grained, dynamic processes unique to individuals. Although theoretical advances have begun to reconcile these perspectives, analytical methods capable of integrating them remain underdeveloped. To address this gap, I introduce the Dynamic Individualized Latent Trait (DILT) model, a framework that decomposes ordinal item responses from intensive longitudinal data into three components: 1) …

Advancing High-Energy Astrophysics Through X-Ray Spectropolarimetry And Balloon-Borne Instrumentation, Sohee Chun

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The strong gravitational field around black holes provides a unique laboratory for investigating the behavior of matter and radiation under extreme conditions. As matter accretes, the interplay between the accretion disk, hot corona, and surrounding stellar environment produces complex spectral and polarimetric X-ray signatures. Thus, X-ray spectropolarimetry has become a powerful tool for constraining the accretion geometry. Building on these advances, this dissertation integrates theoretical modeling, observational data analysis, and instrumentation development to address open questions in high-energy astrophysics. On the theoretical side, relativistic ray-tracing simulations test the truncated disk-hot inner flow accretion geometry against observations of Cygnus X-1, identifying …

Implementing A Self-Administered Crafft Screening Tool In A Pediatric Mental Health Setting, Michael Nguyen

Doctoral Dissertations & Projects

Background: Adolescent substance use disorders (SUDs) require early identification in inpatient psychiatric settings, but inconsistent screening workflows limit systematic detection.

Aims: This quality improvement project evaluated implementation of the Car, Relax, Alone, Forget, Friends, Trouble (CRAFFT) 2.1 screening tool to improve identification of adolescents at risk for SUDs and support multidisciplinary communication.

Methods: CRAFFT 2.1 screening was embedded into admission workflows for adolescents admitted to two inpatient psychiatric units. Admission nurses distributed self-administered forms during admission. Completed screenings were scored and entered into the electronic medical record. Scores were categorized as low (0), medium (1), or high (≥2). High-risk results …

Power, Knowledge, And Environmental Justice: The Dakota Access Pipeline Controversy, Mya Chapman

Honors Projects

In a time of rife political conflict and debate, it is important to understand the underlying power dynamics that permeate our society in America. As devised by French historian and philosopher Michel Foucault, power and knowledge are mutually constitutive forces that shape our social relations. Through the actions of certain discourses, distinct truths are cultivated that in turn, reinforce existing power structures. In this study, these concepts are applied to the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy in the form of a Foucauldian discourse analysis to understand how the pipeline remained operational in the face of great opposition. Written discourse in the …

Autoantibody Reactivity In Hidradenitis Suppurativa: Characterizing Keratinocyte And Apocrine Gland Targets Across Disease Progression And Anti-Tnf-Α Treatment, Talla Hamouche

Student Theses and Dissertations

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory skin disease associated with impaired quality of life, representing one of the highest burdens among dermatological conditions. This debilitating disorder primarily affects apocrine-gland-bearing and flexural skin areas, most commonly the axillae, breast, buttocks, and groin. As lesions recur and new sites emerge, surgical excision does not guarantee prevention of disease reestablishment. Despite its substantial burden, HS remains among the least understood and most treatment-resistant inflammatory diseases. The mechanisms underlying this chronicity and the frequent failure of conventional anti-inflammatory therapies remain unresolved. An underappreciated autoimmune dimension may contribute to HS pathogenesis: the clonal …

We Are Not What We Think: Solipsism & The Concept Of Mind, Michael Marcoux

Student Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I argue that the persuasiveness of solipsism—understood as skepticism of the existence of anything or anyone outside of one’s own private mental life—rests not on its intrinsic argumentative force, but on the degree of commitment to a certain philosophical dogma. I use the problem of solipsism to tease out this dogma, which I dub the Primacy of Privacy. It is characterized by the conviction that in dealing with what there is and what we know, the mental, be it construed in terms of perceptions or thoughts, is the only certain datum from which most if not all …

Americana Marketing Campaign, Shaela O'Keefe

Undergraduate Theses

Americana World Community Center has served as a beacon of hope and justice within the Louisville, Kentucky community for over 30 years. The nonprofit organization provides “holistic services to Louisville's refugee, immigrant and underserved population to build strong and healthy families, create a safe and supportive community and help every individual realize their potential” (Americana, 2024). Americana creates opportunities for families to thrive through “education, family support, youth achievement, and career & financial development” (Americana, 2024). To further Americana’s mission and assist immigrant families, the organization is currently undergoing the process of gathering narratives of Americana’s impact on their staff, …

Quality Improvement Project: Integrating Depression Screening Into Adult Wellness Visits In A Primary Care Clinic, Nina Denchukwu

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Depression is a prevalent and debilitating mental health condition that remains significantly underdiagnosed in primary care, despite national recommendations for universal adult screening. At the project site, less than 40% of adults completing annual wellness visits had documented depression screening. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to evaluate whether integrating the evidence-based Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-2 and PHQ-9 into the electronic health record (EHR) would improve completion of depression screening, documentation, and referrals to treatment. The project was guided by Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations Theory and the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework. A quantitative pre–post intervention design linked with the …

Media Framing Of The Bawku Conflict In Ghana: An Analysis Of Cultural Biases, Narratives, And Peacebuilding Implications, Falilatu Saaka

Master of Arts in Media and Communication Plan II Graduate Projects

This research examines the media framing of the Bawku conflict in Ghana, focusing on how cultural biases shape the portrayal of ethnic disputes and influence public perception. Utilizing a qualitative discourse analysis grounded in Framing Theory and Afrocentric critique, the study analyzes ten news reports from major Ghanaian media outlets to identify patterns of bias, narrative construction, and ideological positioning. Findings reveal that media coverage predominantly emphasizes security and stability, often at the expense of addressing deeper political, economic, and historical factors. Language, imagery, and sourcing choices tend to reinforce stereotypes, skewing public understanding towards ethnic dichotomies, particularly between the …

Expanding The Pantheon Of “Place-Myth”: Media-Induced Travel In College Students Who Study Abroad, Isabella M. Shevetz

Honors College Theses

Media-induced tourism refers to any travel that is in some part motivated by the consumption of mass media related to that location. Media-induced tourism and mass-tourism have led to nation branding and destination marketing across the globe, two industry phenomena that have worked to skyrocket tourism in places where it was not previously a large driver of the local economy. The expansion of mass media availability and the birth of social media mean the media roles of producer and audience member have blurred. Ordinary people now have the influential power of large media corporations. In destination marketing, the user-generated content …

Supporting Those Who Serve: The Impact Of Peer Support On Law Enforcement Suicide, Emily N. Warren

Honors College Theses

Individuals working in law enforcement face daily stressors that far exceed those experienced by the general population. This elevated exposure to stress has been associated with increased rates of mental health disorders and suicide among law enforcement officers. In response, peer support programs have gained recent attention, with new state and federal legislation promoting peer support as a strategy to address the mental health crisis within law enforcement. This paper examines the impact of statewide peer support programs on law enforcement suicide rates through statistical analysis. A difference-in-differences analysis is used to compare state-level law enforcement suicide rates before and …