Digital Commons Network^™

Surrogate Apologia: Posthumous Image Repair For Mac Miller, Chris Cornell, And Naomi Judd, Kevin Stein, Nicolas Stein, Matthew Barton

Speaker & Gavel

The essay examines the surrogate image repair/apologia offered by the family and friends of deceased musicians Mac Miller, Chris Cornell, and Naomi Judd following their untimely deaths from drug overdose or suicide. Typical image repair cases involve harmful behaviors, such as infidelity, violence, and racism, along with offenders required to speak on their own behalf in order to fend off threats to reputation. In the three cases explored in this analysis, the image threats emerged posthumously as surrogates spoke in defense of the legacies of these great musical artists. In order to fend off attacks from music fans, internet trolls, …

Change Gone Come?: Anti-Blackness And The Exclusion Of Black Judges In Mutual Preference Judging, Shanara Reid-Brinkley

Speaker & Gavel

The Mutual Preference Judging (MPJ) system has faced persistent criticism from coaches and debaters of color who note that MPJ has allowed traditional, plan-based (majority white and non-black) debaters to exclude the vast majority of Black judges from being placed in their debates. This article reviews the placement of Black judges in elimination rounds at national policy debate tournaments from 2013 to 2022. The review supports the argument that plan-based debate teams exclude Black judges from their judge preference sheets, significantly limiting Black representation in the elimination rounds of national tournaments.

Volume 61, Issue 1, 2025 Speaker & Gavel

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digital issue (Volume 61, issue 1, 2025) of Speaker & Gavel.

Dual-Task Exercise Protects Healthy Older Adults Against In-Creased Risk For Dementia: A Controlled Trial, Helen Tatiane Santos Pontes, João Bento-Torres, Naina Yuki Vieira Jardim, Victor Oliveira Da Costa, Josilayne Patricia Ramos Carvalho, Cristovam Wanderley Picanço-Diniz, Natáli Valim Oliver Bento-Torres

Baltic Journal of Health and Physical Activity

Background: Functionality in aging is closely linked to the ability to divide attention during multitasking activities, which are essential for activities of daily life. However, coordination between motor and cognitive simultaneous tasks decreases with age, impairing functional ability and restricting older adults' participation and healthy aging. This study aimed to assess the effects of a multimodal dual-task exercise intervention on motor and cognitive dual-task costs and its potential to mitigate age-related declines in healthy older adults. Materials and Methods: A controlled trial was conducted with community-dwelling older adults assigned to either the Dual-Task Exercise group, which participated in a 24-session …

Kalunga Crossings: Waterscapes Of Terror And "Teachment" In The African Atlantic World, Dianne M. Stewart, Tracey E. Hucks, Solimar Otero

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

In this article, we think alongside historian of religions Charles H. Long to analyze the relationship between water and empire, explore theoretical approaches to water and modernity, and probe the significance of water in Africana ecologies and spiritual cultures, highlighting its suggestive contributions to restorative epistemologies of ecological co-habitation. Our investigation advances an Africana religious framework of “waterscapes of terror and ‘teachment’” that centers diaspora bodies of water as loci for analyzing history, materiality, and ecological regard. Teachment is an anti-colonial linguistic irruption, an all-encompassing term for Africana pedagogies and epistemologies that defy antiblack and anti-African colonial instruction. Examining how …

Byzantine Theories Of Scale And Arab-Byzantine Chant Practices: A Comparative Analysis Proposing A New Resolution To The Theoretical System Of Chrysanthos Of Madytos, Rosy Azar

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

In 2015, Amine Beyhom published a book on Byzantine chant, in which he summarised all the existing theories, paying particular attention to the problematic reform of the Byzantine chant theory in 1881, and guiding the reader through the steps that led to that reform. Driven by the first ever comparison between Byzantine and Arabic modes that he had found in Mīkhāʾīl Mashāqa’s epistle, Beyhom first studied Chrysanthos of Madytos’ insight. He documented this research in detail and followed it with a practical comparison to demonstrate if theory is indeed applied or it acts only as prescriptive guide. He recorded and …

Olivier Messiaen’S "Première Communion De La Vierge" And The Translation Of Religious Meaning, Robert Sholl, Jean-Rodolphe Kars

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

This study creates a rich exegesis of “Première Communion de la Vierge” from Olivier Messiaen’s (1908–1992) piano cycle Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus (1944) to show how Messiaen attempted to translate musical symbolism into religious meaning. The first two sections provide background and context on the work, revise previous scholarship, and show how this piece (no XI) functions as a theological hinge in the cycle. The genesis and sources of the Vingt Regards, using previously unavailable archival material, are examined to provide new insight into both the cycle and the “Première Communion.” The aesthetic scaffolding of this piece is then …

'Coming Here, It’S Just Weird': 'Making The Familiar Strange' Through Exploring Experiences Of Sexism And Feminisms, Emilia A I Little

Plymouth Interdisciplinary Education Open Journal

This paper explores personal experiences with gender and how these experiences changed whilst attending university as an undergraduate student. The paper uses gender and feminist theory to guide a critical and auto-ethnographic exploration of personal experiences of a young woman within a patriarchal system. The paper uses journal excerpts to recount past and current experiences through feminist lenses. Through exploring gender theory, binary and performativity, personal experiences are validated and explained. The force of patriarchal oppression and privilege were illuminated as personal conceptions of gender were disrupted. The paper argues for much-needed feminist education in schools, centring around: avoiding the …

The Impact Of Absent Fathers In Forensic And Criminal Justice Settings, Sara J. Bradley

Master of Arts in Human Services

This capstone examines the interplay between father absence, marginalization through economics, and larger structural factors in shaping youth crime and intergenerational patterns of risk. This review synthesizes studies in family instability, neighborhood disadvantage, and barriers to paternal involvement in demonstrating the interplay between larger forces in shaping developmental outcomes. Father absence correlates with diminished protective factors, increased exposure to stressful contexts, and elevated dangers of system contact. Larger structural factors of concentrated poverty levels, resource scarcity in neighborhoods, and inconsistent levels of support upon return from incarceration exacerbate dangerous outcomes and intergenerational patterns. The applications analysis in this capstone evaluates …

Lost In Translation: How The Criminal Justice System Fails Individuals With Autism, J.Mckenna Harris

Master of Arts in Human Services

Adults with autism spectrum disorder face significant challenges throughout the criminal justice system, from initial police contact through incarceration. This capstone examined how the core features of autism, literal language processing, difficulty reading social cues, sensory sensitivities, and executive function deficits, create vulnerabilities that legal professionals frequently misunderstand. The literature review revealed a consistent pattern: behaviors rooted in autism are routinely misinterpreted as signs of guilt, defiance, or lack of remorse. During interrogations, individuals with autism are highly susceptible to false confessions because they struggle with abstract legal language, tend to comply with authority figures, and cannot predict the consequences …

Chad Dobson Reflects On The Launch Of The World Bank Reform Campaign, Chad Dobson, Julie Radomski

Perspectives

Chad Dobson is the founder of the Bank Information Center (BIC) and led BIC from 1987 to 1997 and 2007 to 2016. He is widely accredited with developing the global campaign strategies for environmental and social reforms of multilateral development banks (MDB). In this interview, he recounts the early days of BIC and the development of the global campaign.

Advanced Soliton Structures And Elliptic Wave Patterns In A Sixth-Order Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation Using Improved Modified Extended Tanh Function Method, Mina Fahim, Hamdy Mohamed Ahmed, Islam Samir, Kamal Dib

Basic Science Engineering

In this work, a sixth–order extension of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) within its integrable hierarchy is investigated to model higher–order nonlinear and dispersive effects relevant to optical fiber systems and nonlinear wave propagation. By employing the Improved Modified Extended Tanh Function Method, a comprehensive family of exact analytical solutions is derived, encompassing bright and dark solitons, singular soliton structures, and singular periodic solutions. In addition, solution families expressed in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions, Weierstrass doubly periodic elliptic functions, and exponential profiles are obtained. The novelty of this study lies in extending the analytical framework of the NLSE hierarchy …

Enhancing Readiness Of Novice Nurse Educators To Use Concept Mapping As An Active Learning Strategy, Kaitlyn Dutch

MSN Student Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Analysis Of Domestic Violence Legislation In India And The United States: Understanding Protection Of Women Against Violence Act 2005 And Violence Against Women Act 1994, Deon Rodrigues

2025 Fall Honors Capstones Projects - Archive

Domestic violence continues to affect millions of individuals worldwide, yet legal systems respond to it in very different ways. This research compares how India’s Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005) and the United States’ Violence Against Women Act (1994; 2021) protect victims and hold offenders accountable. Using a comparative legal analysis, the study examines both laws’ language, enforcement mechanisms, and effectiveness through court cases, government reports, and statistical data. By identifying the strengths of the United States model such as mandatory arrest provisions and victim support systems, the study aims to propose practical reforms for India’s legal framework. …

Examining The Role Of Early Bilingualism On Interference Suppression And Prefrontal Connectivity, Matthew L. Cook, Lisa K. Boyce, Allison S. Hancock, Mackenzy S. Turner, Spencer D. Bradshaw

Human Development and Family Studies Student Research

Inhibitory control is a core cognitive function that is primarily associated with activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and is the cognitive function that inhibits impulses, thoughts, and suppresses irrelevant information to an identified goal or task. Prior research suggests that bilingualism may affect brain activity related to inhibitory control, yet few studies have compared functional activity between monolingual and bilingual children. The current study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine region of interest comparisons and task-state functional connectivity across the PFC during an interference suppression Simon task with 13 bilingual (East Asian or Ibero-romance paired with English) and …

That’S Not Art! Artificial Intelligence And Its Role In The Arts, Molly Katherine Horn

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been deeply integrated into our modern lives; from social media algorithms, to email summaries, to software that will write your essays, and even tools to photoshop relatives out of family photos. AI software is trained on countless data points. Famous artwork, philosophical texts, TikTok trends, movies, wars, and star-crossed stories. It is steadily becoming a collection of human history; learning and growing alongside us. Art, too, is a reflection of society; it informs us of our history, our cultures, our desires and dreams. Thus, it is only fitting that AI has become a tool to create …

Gauss’S Method For Orbital Determination, Milagros Tamara Giraldo

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Accurately predicting the orbital trajectory of celestial objects is essential for precise spacecraft navigation, planning planetary missions, avoiding potential collisions with space debris, and studying the long-term stability of planetary systems. Gauss’s method for orbital determination provides a way to predict the path of a celestial body accurately using only a small number of observations. In this project, we create an implementation that is not just a tool for executing Gauss’s method, but also an opportunity to study the formulation of the method itself. It allows for a practical and detailed examination of how different inputs, assumptions, and numerical choices …

Enhancing Silicon Sampling In Large Language Models: Fine-Tuning Techniques Using Survey Data, Davis P. Forster

Theses and Dissertations

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used to simulate responses of human demographic groups, a task known as silicon sampling. This paper investigates whether supervised fine-tuning can improve algorithmic fidelity in such settings. We construct a dataset from the General Social Survey (GSS), converting demographic attributes into natural-language backstories and randomly selecting one attribute as a held-out target. Fine-tuning a LLaMA-3.1-70B model on this dataset yields significant improvements on two tasks: (1) imputing missing attributes at the individual level, and (2) reproducing response distributions for demographic slices, such as racial and age groups. Notably, these improvements are achieved with minimal …

Integrating Chatgpt Voice To Enhance German Language Communication, Michael B. Dettinger

Teaching Repository of AI-Infused Learning

In this course, students were required to write four essay topics, and in turn were assigned to use ChatGPT Voice in a task prior to each essay in order to assist them in framing their argument, as well as to practice working through their essay and presentation topic verbally in advance.

The Feasibility Of Transaldolase Inhibitors As Anti-Cancer Therapeutics, Daniel Scot Baer

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Metabolism was a major focus of cancer research 100 years ago, but its prevalence declined in the latter part of the twentieth century. In the last several decades, however, it has become clear that cancer cells frequently modify their metabolic programs to enable both their survival and rapid proliferation. Transaldolase (TA), an enzyme within the pentose phosphate pathway, contributes to these outcomes when its activity is increased, yet for a variety of reasons inhibition of the enzyme has remained comparatively understudied. Since TA flux enables nucleotide production and high levels of NADPH synthesis, aberrant, cancer-causing signaling pathways often increase expression …

Framing Of Immigration In The News And Its Effects On Social Media Discourse On The Southcoast Of Massachusetts, Mariel Surprenant

Political Science Undergraduate Theses

Why do immigrant communities often express anti-immigrant sentiment? This study will focus on examining what political discourse about immigration dominates the news ecosystem of the Southcoast of Massachusetts, and what effect that discourse has. Immigration in the U.S. has become an increasingly politicized issue, dominating political discourse, motivating voter behavior, and shaping regional political identities. This study will use content analysis of Southcoast newspapers to examine how the local news frames immigration and discourse analysis to examine the opinions of everyday citizens revealed as by their social media comments on posts about immigration by the same local news sources. The …

Comparative Analysis Of Machine Learning And Statistical Models For Railroad–Highway Grade Crossing Safety, Erickson Senkondo, Deo Chimba, Masanja Madalo, Afia Yeboah, Shala Blue

Civil and Architectural Engineering Faculty Research

Railroad-highway grade crossings (RHGCs) are critical points of conflict between roadway and rail systems, contributing to over 2000 crashes and 250 fatalities annually in the United States. This study applied machine learning methods (ML) techniques to model and predict crash frequency at RHGCs, using a comprehensive dataset from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). The dataset included 807 validated crossings, incorporating roadway geometry, traffic volumes, rail characteristics, and control features. Five ML models—Random Forest, XGBoost, PSO-Elastic Net, Transformer-CNN, and Autoencoder-MLP—were developed and compared to a traditional Negative Binomial (NB) regression model. Results showed that ML …

The Negative Impact Sleep Loss Has On Mental Health, Kaden Sayler

Psychology Student Publications

Many teenagers struggle with chronic sleep deprivation due to busy schedules, social media, and late-night habits. Research shows that lack of sleep severely affects adolescents’ mental health, increasing risks of depression, anxiety, poor attention, and impaired brain development. This paper highlights how modern factors like screen time and “social jetlag” worsen the issue, warning that sleep deprivation is a hidden but serious threat to teens’ well-being.

Enhancing English Literacy Through Task-Based Learning In A Technology-Integrated Classroom, Yueh-Tzu Chiang

Journal of English and Applied Linguistics

This study explored the impact of task-based teaching in a technology-enhanced environment, following the blended ladder model (Gravel et al., 2014), on second language (L2) learners’ English reading and writing skills. The study aimed to promote reading habits through extensive reading (ER), improve language skills via technology-assisted platforms (e.g., ZUVIO and Classdojo), and reduce writing anxiety. Two classes of 40 students each were divided into higher proficiency (HP) and lower proficiency (LP) groups for an eight-week intervention. Both classes participated in two interventions: self-selected reading materials with reading journals and task-based learning involving grammar, sentence structure, and authentic writing tasks …

Discursive And Ideological Issues Foregrounding The Attitudinal Conceptualization Of Yahoo Yahoo (Internet Fraud) In Selected Nigerian Comedy Skits, Temitope Michael Ajayi, Aishat Lare Husseini

Journal of English and Applied Linguistics

Cybercrime, Yahoo Yahoo in the Nigerian context, has emerged as one of the major issues the global space is currently facing, and as such has received scholarly attention, mostly from the sociological, anthropological, and legal perspectives, but very scant attention from linguistics. From alinguistic perspective, this study thus investigates the discursive-ideological issues foregrounding Nigerians’ attitudinal orientation towards Yahoo Yahoo (Internet Fraud) as portrayed in selected Nigerian comedy skits. Data comprised four purposively selected comedy skits by Lasisi Elenu and Prince Tgb downloaded from their social media pages (YouTube and TikTok). With analytical insight from van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of ideology, …

An Unclear Connection: The Asylum System's "One Central Reason" Test, Christopher R. Porter

William & Mary Law Review Online

Part I of this Note will provide relevant background information on the asylum system in the United States and the significant changes made in the REAL ID Act.

Part II will analyze the current requirements that asylum applicants must meet to succeed in their asylum petitions, including a brief explanation of each element and the legislative history of the REAL ID Act. Part II will assert that based on the legislative history, the “one central reason” standard is best understood as only slightly elevating an applicant’s burden of proof to further protect against threats to the U.S. without becoming overly …

The Effect Of Talker Intelligibility On Adaptation And Generalization To An Unfamiliar Accent, Kaitlyn L. Matthews

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Hearing unfamiliar second language (L2) accented speech reduces intelligibility (i.e. accuracy of speech understanding) and increases the listening effort (i.e. deliberate allocation of cognitive resources) required to process the speech. However, listeners readily adapt to L2-accented speech, improving intelligibility and reducing listening effort. The type of exposure that may lead to lower listening effort when generalizing knowledge to a new speaker of the same accent has yet to be explored. We exposed native English speakers to English sentences spoken by native English speakers, highly intelligible Mandarin Chinese-accented English speakers, or less intelligible Mandarin Chinese-accented English speakers. While measuring pupil dilation …

Optimization Of Research Pipeline To Characterize The Effects Of Atp-Sensitive Potassium Channels Mutations On Native Skeletal Muscle Fibers And Evaluate Potential Drug Therapy, Yuezhou Chen

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel is a critical metabolic sensor in skeletal muscle, yet its definitive molecular composition and functional roles remain contested. In this study, I conclusively demonstrate that the Kir6.2/SUR2 complex forms sarcolemmal KATP channel in mouse fast-twitch muscle. Genetic knock-out (KO) of Kir6.2 (Kcnj11−/−) or SUR2 (Abcc9−/−) resulted in a similar phenotype with increased fatigue resistance and a pathological rise in unstimulated resting tension at high-frequency stimulation. In contrast, SUR1 (Abcc8−/−) KO was ineffective. Furthermore, a CRISPR/Cas9 knock-in mouse model of a human SUR2A truncation variant (KCGV/KCGV) recapitulated the abnormal force accumulation, demonstrating that even loss-of-function of …

Functional Characterization Of Abcc8 Mutations Potentially Linked To The Transition From Hyperinsulinemic Hypoglycemia To Diabetes, Hao Zhang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels, composed of the SUR1 and Kir6.2 subunits encoded by the ABCC8 and KCNJ11 genes, are critical regulators of membrane excitability and insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells. Gain-of-function (GOF) mutations in these genes cause neonatal diabetes mellitus through impaired insulin secretion and persistent hyperglycemia, whereas loss-of-function (LOF) mutations lead to congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) with hypoglycemia due to β-cell hyperexcitability. I have addressed a paradoxical form of maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) arising from KATP mutations, in which patients transition from CHI to glucose intolerance later in life. My experiments indicate that many KATP mutations associated with …

Emotional Regulation In Adolescents, Its' Link To Social Media, & Potential Solutions, Jace Burke

Psychology Student Publications

This essay discusses emotional regulation in adolescents, and how social media has significant effects on its development. It also goes over potential solutions on how to fix irregular emotional dysregulation, and how society might be able to help prevent or teach adolescents to adapt emotional regulation to the modern digital landscape.