Digital Commons Network^™

Tmem116 Crispr-Mediated Knockout Prevents Proper Lens Regeneration In Iberian-Ribbed Newts, Damien T. Mann

Honors Theses and Capstones

Eye diseases like cataracts, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and glaucoma are widespread and detrimental conditions affecting many people across the globe. While there are reliable and successful treatments for those with cataracts that can reverse vision impediments, others like glaucoma and AMD have limited treatment options. Additionally, eye damage resulting from these conditions is commonly irreversible, establishing a need for new treatment options. The Iberian-ribbed newt, Pleurodeles waltl, is a salamander species primarily studied for their amazing regenerative capabilities. Particularly, these newts are capable of de novo lens regeneration after a complete resection, providing a unique opportunity to study regeneration …

A Course Correction? The Correlation Between Gfsi-Recognized Certifications And Salmonella In Raw Chicken Products, Kar Ho Lim, Lijiao Hu, Yuqing Zheng, Michael Ollinger

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a widely recognized entity. Many third-party certifications, such as Safe Quality Food (SQF), Brand Reputation through Compliance Global Standard (BRCGS), and Food Safety System Certification 22000 (FSSC), benchmarked against GFSI standards. This study compares the Salmonella detection rates in raw chicken products from SQF, BRCGS, FSSC-certified establishments to those from uncertified ones. We performed a probit regression and calculated average marginal effects using testing data from the Food Safety Inspection Service. Overall, products from certified establishments are associated with 3.2 % lower positive rate of Salmonella detection. Certification is associated with a greater …

An Advocacy Appetizer: Students Write Their Lawmakers About Issues That Matter To Them, Darren Ilett

Information Literacy

In these two 50-minute lessons intended for first-year undergraduates in an English composition, first-year experience, or standalone information literacy course, students write letters to lawmakers about issues that interest them or that impact themselves, their families, or their communities. After the lessons, students will be able to 1) determine an appropriate audience for their topic (relating to the “Authority Is Constructed and Contextual” and “Scholarship as Conversation” frames); 2) find and select evidence from source types that would convince or appeal to their audience (relating to the “Information Creation as a Process” frame); and 3) use information ethically by citing …

A Better Way: From Pyramids To Gardens: Recovering God's Design For Leadership, Accountability And Renewal, Tara Naomi Korpi

Doctor of Ministry

This doctoral project emerges from my vocational context as a consultant and pastor working with senior pastors and executive leadership teams within evangelical contexts. Across these settings, I encountered patterns of abuse and unethical and immoral behavior that were not rooted in isolated mistakes but embedded within organizational cultures that normalized pastoral isolation, protected institutional image, and lacked effective structures for accountability. These observations shaped the project’s conviction that, when empowered with appropriate tools for integrity and accountability, leaders can cultivate healthier churches where righteousness is prioritized, harm is prevented, and pastors are supported to finish well for lasting Kingdom …

Ai Same Tool Different Rules: A Snapshot Of Ai Guidelines Across Academic Disciplines, Mary Larsen, Mercedes Dowdy

Posters

Since its earliest emergence, universities across the nation have been struggling to create a universal policy surrounding the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. This poster will examine the limitations of a universal, one-size-fits-all AI policy in academic contexts, particularly across disciplines where different pedagogical goals, assessment practices, and ethical concerns exist. Drawing on student reactions to existing AI policies and a critical review of PSU’s current AI guidelines, this project highlights how vague or inconsistent language leads to inconsistent interpretation, uneven enforcement, and most important student confusion on the use of AI in their academic studies. The …

Correct My Captions: An Ai-Human Collaboration Workflow, Derrel Fincher

Posters

As the April 24, 2026 ADA Title II deadline approaches, higher-education instructors are facing the task of improving captions on existing course videos. This poster presents a practical workflow to improve Canvas Studio captions in which AI performs most of the cross-checking between two independent transcripts: the original Studio captions and an AI-generated transcript from the extracted audio. The AI compares the transcripts and uses differences as a quality-check signal: segments with strong agreement remain unchanged, while mismatches, “inaudible/uncertain” markers, and glossary terms (names, acronyms, technical vocabulary) are automatically flagged for targeted human review. After review, the workflow outputs a …

Open To The Public: Legal Protections For Public Access To Shifting Ocean And Great Lakes Shorelines, Emma Ehrlich, Cora Sutherland, Melissa Scanlan

Water Law Review

Shorelines and beaches are shifting and eroding as climate change causes ocean levels to rise and the Great Lakes to alternate between more erratic high and low water levels. Two common responses to shifting shorelines and erosion are hard shoreline armoring and beach nourishment. However, these responses raise concerns regarding access to public trust resources. Shoreline armoring can restrict public access to the oceans and Great Lakes, as well as diminish their sandy beaches. Government-funded beach nourishment projects may also take place near private homes, resulting in questions as to who is benefiting from these publicly funded projects.

This Article …

Globe Hydrosphere: Dissolved Oxygen Data Sheet 2026, Globe U.S. Coordination Office

GLOBE Data Sheets

No abstract provided.

Construction Of The Yunjian Gene Map And Cascading Generative Design Based On Cultural Memetics, Xinyi Chen, Zhicheng Wang

LSU Fashion and AI x Policy Symposium

No abstract provided.

How Mindfulness Training Influences Attention: A Systematic Review, Ingrid E. O'Brien, Kent W. Barrett, Berna Altunisik Ms

Endeavors: Mississippi State Undergraduate Research Journal

The aim of this literature review is to understand the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation on training attention control skills. Relevant resources were identified through academic databases by entering keywords such as “attention” and “mindfulness training”. Preference was given to recent publications to ensure the inclusion of up-to-date research findings. Three main factors that influence training efficacy emerged from the literature: Reducing mind wandering, increasing acceptance, and lifting mood and affect. Review of empirical findings suggested that mindfulness does contribute to enhancing attentional abilities, although findings are somewhat inconsistent. Mind wandering and acceptance were important moderators in this effect, while no …

Anuran Occupancy Of Created Wetlands Within Reforested Legacy Surface Mines In Kentucky And West Virginia, Jillian C. Newman, Steve Price, Jacquelyn C. Guzy, Joshua Castle, John J. Cox, Jeffery L. Larkin, Christopher D. Barton

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Restoration of habitat is an important component of wildlife management. Surface coal mining has altered forest cover in the Central Appalachians, and most reclamation activities on previously mined lands result in non-native grasslands or shrub lands. The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA), which emphasizes non-native vegetation removal, soil decompaction, planting of native trees and shrubs, and, in some cases, wetland creation represents an alternative to grassland-based reclamation that may promote forest-associated wildlife on legacy surface mines. We used automated recording units to evaluate the response of anurans to created wetlands and the FRA in Kentucky and West Virginia, USA. We used …

Press Passes For Alabama Executions, Lee Hedgepeth

Execution Artifacts and Eyewitness Accounts

Press passes provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections to Lee Hedgepeth for executions at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.

Assessing Positive Digital Experiences: A Spanish Validation Of The Digital Flourishing Scale For Adolescents, Alfredo Zarco-Alpuente, Victor Ciudad Fernández, Jasmina Rosič, Sophie Janicke-Bowles, Tamara Escrivà-Martínez, Paula Samper-García

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Adolescents are immersed in digital communication, which can benefit or harm their well-being. Digital flourishing captures positive perceptions of this communication-connectedness, authentic self-presentation, positive social comparison, civil participation, and self-control-and how it contributes to well-being. In Spain there is still no validated instrument for adolescents. Method: We adapted and validated the Digital Flourishing Scale for Adolescents (DFSA) for Spanish adolescents. Study 1 involved a pilot survey (n = 13) and cognitive interviews (n = 10) to improve clarity and cultural relevance. Study 2 used a cross-sectional survey (n = 1,786) to examine the DFSA’s latent structure, measurement invariance by …

Law Librarianship And Legal Information Science In The Age Of Genai, Paul D. Callister

Faculty Works

This article examines the relationship between law librarianship and legal information science in the age of generative AI (GenAI), arguing that closer integration between the two is essential to navigating a rapidly evolving legal information landscape. It contends that law librarianship—long grounded in stable classification systems and cognitive authority—must adopt the analytical methods of legal information science to remain effective in the digital era. Together, these fields can reinforce the rule of law by improving the organization, retrieval, and stability of legal information. The article identifies emerging subfields of legal information science that support this integration and develops several concepts …

Male Disposability, Law, And Feminism, Edward Cantu

Faculty Works

This article explores scientific evidence that societies care more about the welfare and safety of females than that of males, and that this dynamic of "male disposability" is deeply entrenched in culture, and thus in law. The recognition and integration of male disposability theory would mean an evolutionary leap in modern theorizing about gender and the law, but it is ignored. Why? Feminist theory dominates current academic gender discourse. Far from appreciating the explanatory power of male disposability theory, feminist theorists are often invested in theorizing gendered problems in ways that mischannel compassion away from men and toward women. The …

Iceberg Ethos: Credibility And Hemingway In Predictive Legal Writing, Brad Desnoyer

Faculty Works

In predictive legal writing, credibility is not inferred from conclusions alone. It is constructed sentence by sentence. Analytic correctness is necessary, but it is not sufficient. Supervising attorneys read prose as evidence of intellectual control, treating disciplined style as proof of substantive mastery. Yet legal writing scholarship has largely framed clarity as a matter of pedagogy or professionalism rather than as a structural theory of ethos.

This article reframes predictive writing as institutional rhetoric. Within the hierarchical environment of law practice, cognitive fluency governs professional trust: writing that is easy to process yet disciplined in reasoning reads as competence. Drawing …

The Federal Rules Of Evi-Dance: Exploring And Reimagining Evidence Law Through Music, And Proposing Amendments To Rule 604, Brian C. Potts

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Shotspotter In The Courtroom: Addressing The Evidentiary Challenges Of Acoustic Gunshot Detection Technology, Samantha Mazzone

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Criminal Procedure—When Procedure Overrides Purpose: The Fight Over Judicial Authority To Modify Restitution—United States V. O’Hara, 114 F.4th 557 (6th Cir. 2024), Alexandria Cormier

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law—What Was Its Intent? First Circuit Presumes Mens Rea For Machinegun Provision, Ignoring Congress’S Purpose—United States V. Pérez-Greaux, 83 F.4th 1 (1st Cir. 2023), Allison O’Heany

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Teaching Insurance: The Use Of Reservation Of Rights Letters To Better Understand The Effect Of Insurance On Civil Legal Practice, Michael L. Young

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The idea of taking an insurance law course does not set the typical law student’s heart aflutter. But maybe it should. Almost eighty years ago, the United States Supreme Court recognized, “Perhaps no modern commercial enterprise directly affects so many persons in all walks of life as does the insurance business. Insurance touches the home, the family, and the occupation or the business of almost every person in the United States.” The practical reality is that while insurance may play a limited part in criminal or family law matters, the availability of insurance plays a critical role in the handling …

Deep Crustal Boundaries As Fluid Conduits: A Geochemical Investigation Of Mvt Mineralization In Kentucky And Beyond, Dairian Boddy M. Boddy

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Critical minerals are vital to the United States economy and national security, yet their supply chains are at risk. Common minerals in Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposits, such as sphalerite, galena, fluorite, and barite, host critical metals such as barium, gallium, germanium, and zinc, which are essential for energy technologies. An investigation of three MVT mineral districts in Kentucky elucidated previously unrecognized systematics, genetic relationships, and sources of ore components using stable and radiogenic isotope geochemistry, particularly from galena, sphalerite, barite, and gangue minerals (e.g., carbonates). The localization and dominant type of mineralization in each district are potentially influenced by deep …

Court Review: Journal Of The American Judges Association, Vol. 62, No. 1, Eve M. Brank, David J. Dreyer, Reba Ann Page, Ana Cienfuegos-Silvera

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

Contents

Creating “Buy-in” for Juvenile Restorative Justice Programs: Lessons from Nebraska’s Community Mediation Centers, Kristen M. Blankley, Lisa M. PytlikZillig, and Ashley M. Votruba

Consensus and Conflict Over Context: Select Criminal Law and Procedure Cases from the Supreme Court’s 2024-25 Term, Eve Brensike Primus and Elena Schultz

In the Shadow of Trauma: Opportunities and Obstacles of Restorative Justice with Young People Who Offend, William R. Wood

Restorative Transitional Justice: The Judicial Role in Colombia’s Peace Tribunal, Gabriel Rojas-Andrade

Editor’s Note: Restorative Justoce: Repairing Harm, Rebuilding Community, Eve Brank

Thoughts from Canada: Restorative Justice Through Prohibition on Arrest, Wayne K. Gorman …

How Equity Changes, Samuel L. Bray

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

In Trump v. CASA, the Supreme Court decisively rejected universal injunctions and offered a major decision about the law of equity. This Article grapples with a central question raised by CASA: if equity is not static, then what counts as legitimate innovation? This Article argues (1) that equity, in order to perform its functions, must have the capacity to innovate; (2) that any innovation should be in keeping with those functions and with equity’s own principles; and (3) that the primary stewards of the law of equity are the courts, not Congress. The vulnerabilities of Grupo Mexicano on these points …

One-Stop-Shop (Oss): Community Health Nursing: (For Undergraduate Nurses), Sarmad Muhammad Soomar

Books

No abstract provided.

Nurse-Driven Initiatives To Reduce Supply Waste Produced In The Intensive Care Unit, Lance Prince

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Project Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project was to implement a needs-based supply retrieval system using mobile carts and evaluate its effectiveness in reducing supply costs and improving resource stewardship among nursing staff over an 8-week period.

Background

intensive care units are high-resource environments where medical supply overconsumption leads to significant financial strain and environmental impact. Preliminary audits in a high-acuity unit revealed a trend of excess waste driven by the automatic opening of standardized, pre-packaged admission kits regardless of individual patient needs.

Methodology

Guided by the Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice, a pre/post-intervention design evaluated 49 patient …

Teaching Primary And Secondary Computing: A Comparative Study Of Classroom Practices And Resources In The Uk And Ireland, Robert Whyte, Diana Kirby, Elizabeth Cole, Tom Crick, Nicola Looker, Keith Quille, Sue Sentance

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Background and Context: As more K–12 teachers are required to teach computing, there is a need to understand how it is enacted in classrooms. In addition, many non-specialists are teaching computing for the first time. Objective: We set out to better understand how computing is currently being taught across five jurisdictions in the UK and Ireland. The aim of the study was to understand CS teaching practices, including the use of certain approaches and resources in the computing classroom. Method: We analysed survey data from 475 primary and secondary teachers across a number of relevant categories: teachers’ use of CS …

Characterizing Gut Microbial Communities And Symbiont-Mediated Detoxification In Herbivorous Insects, Rachel C. Vargas

Biology Dissertations

Insect gut bacteria are vital contributors to host physiology, yet the broader prevalence and fitness implications of symbiont-mediated detoxification remain poorly understood. This thesis investigates these dynamics across three research chapters. Chapter 1 uses 16S rRNA sequencing to characterize how grasshopper gut microbial communities vary across species, dietary breadths, and gastrointestinal segments. Chapter 2 evaluates the detoxification capacity of over 150 bacterial isolates from diverse herbivores against the plant allelochemicals phenethyl isothiocyanate, rutin, and chlorogenic acid to determine if host dietary specialization predicts microbial metabolic ability. Finally, Chapter 3 employs fitness bioassays to test whether inoculating generalist herbivores with detoxifying …

Sewer Pipe Condition Assessment Using An Ensemble Machine Learning Framework For Infrastructure Decision Support, Mahnaz Rouhi

Civil Engineering Dissertations

Aging wastewater infrastructure presents significant challenges for municipalities across the United States, with many sewer networks approaching or exceeding their design life. Conventional inspection methods, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), are limited by subjectivity, cost, and inefficiency. To address these challenges, this study develops an ensemble machine learning framework for assessing the structural condition of sewer pipelines using inspection records enriched with geospatial attributes.

The primary objective of this research is to enhance predictive accuracy, interpretability, and decision-support for risk-based asset management. The scope of the study encompasses 4,802 CCTV inspection records from Dallas, TX, and Tampa, FL, integrating physical, …

Videoscoop: A Non-Traditional, Domain-Independent Framework For Video Analysis, Umme Hafsa Billah

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations

Due to the proliferation of cameras in handheld devices and the widespread use of CCTV, images and videos have become a preferred alternative for capturing and disseminating information. Automated analysis for understanding image or video contents (e.g., objects, activities, backgrounds, situations of interest, etc.) is critical for many applications such as Civic Monitoring, Surveillance (in general), monitoring activities in Assisted Living environments, and many more. Image and Video Analysis (IVA) research has been ongoing for several decades, resulting in numerous techniques for algorithmically analyzing and understanding image and video contents.

Image Analysis (IA) has advanced in several areas, including object …