Digital Commons Network^™

Strategies For Thoughtful Dissemination Of Climate Change Knowledge: A Blueprint For Scientists In The Heart Of The Empire, Christopher Cronk

Nepal: Geoscience in the Himalaya

This interdisciplinary research investigates how climate change education, Indigenous knowledge systems, journalism, and anthropology intersect in shaping environmental awareness and action, focusing primarily on Nepal and drawing parallels with Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island (North America). Stationed in Kathmandu, I conducted interviews with climate educators, journalists, anthropologists, and activists to explore how scientific and local knowledge are communicated and acted upon. Findings highlight the strong awareness of climate change in Nepal, the systemic barriers to effective mitigation and adaptation, and the potential of community-led initiatives like the Community Forest Program. Anthropological insights proved crucial in linking human experience to environmental …

Flood Risk Reduction: An Analysis Of Policy, Policy Implementation, And The Role Of Non-Governmental Organisations, Elsa Cutler

Nepal: Geoscience in the Himalaya

As global temperatures rise, flood frequency and severity increase due to unpredictable rainfall, consequently escalating flood risk for Nepal's population. Therefore, implementing mitigation strategies and disaster risk reduction operations has become of utmost importance to effectively protect the people of Nepal. In 2024, countless lives were lost and a great deal of infrastructure was destroyed in Kathmandu due to the floods that swept through the city. The scale of damage the flood caused could have been minimized if the risk management policies in place were enforced properly. This investigation uses interviews, news reports, policies, policy analyses, and the case study …

Forum, Volume 49, No. 2, Summer 2025, Florida Humanities, Pam Daniel

FORUM: The Magazine of Florida Humanities

Contents: Letter from the Executive Director -- Letter from the Secretary of State -- From the Editor -- Humanities Live -- Treasure -- Oral History -- Florida Seen -- Florida Reads -- The Saltwater Road -- The Hero with a Thousand Purses -- Indigenous Florida -- A Taste of Florida -- Environmental Humanities -- The Quiz

Global Studies Initiative Faculty Report: Theatre 125: Film History Course Redesign, Diana Jaher

Global Studies Initiatives in Arts and Sciences 2025

No abstract provided.

How Do You Know? Parsing The Infocalypse Using Art-Based Data Visualization, Michelle Sylvia Weintraub

Theses

Since the advent of the World Wide Web, vast interconnected digital networks have increasingly provided access to diverse data sources for Internet users. Towards the turn of the 21st century, social media sites opened opportunities to produce and consume (i.e., prosume) data, empowering users to publish their own content online (Manovich, 2009). The ability to publish user-generated content results in more voices being heard, creating more seats at the proverbial table. However, more recently, persuasive media has increasingly been weaponized to disseminate misinformation and disinformation online (Howard, 2020). Consequently, the agency exercised by Internet and social media users is diminished. …

Heroic Sacrifice And Christ-Like Bodies: Conceptions Of Immortality In Jacques-Louis David's Death Of Marat, Ingelise Johnson

Theses

This thesis posits a reinterpretation of Jacques-Louis David’s late-eighteenth-century martyr-portrait, The Death of Marat, within its French Revolutionary political function and theological associations. The revolutionary body in Marat is rendered from a corporeal language of antique heroic figures and Renaissance depositions David observed during his study in Rome. It is especially in the iconography of the hanging arm that David illustrates Marat’s association with heroic and sacrificial deaths of antique and Christian imagery. These references convey the artist’s exploration of death within religious beliefs germane to the sociocultural contexts of the revolutionary period. Within antique and Christian theologies, David explores …

Beyond Suprematism: Carpenter Ii And The Reimagining Of The Peasant In Malevich's Late Work, Elizabeth Leslie Lancaster

Theses

Every artistic creation is influenced by the dynamics of its origins and the specific intentions of both the artist and the audience to interact with it in a particular way. In abstract art, human elements may be less apparent than in representational art, where recognizable imagery can be more readily linked to the cultural backdrop of its time. Kazimir Malevich’s body of work can superficially be divided into representational pieces and non-objective works. However, a more nuanced interpretation of his oeuvre is warranted. This is particularly relevant to Malevich’s enduring engagement with the peasant motif and the layers of influence …

Engraving Goddesses: Hendrick Goltzius’S Mannerist Prints, Emily Seils

Theses

This project analyzes the reception of Hendrick Goltzius’s (1558-1617) prints within the court of Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612), specifically how his technical expertise in his mythological compositions presented bodily transformation as an alchemical act. He produced images that were intellectually coded for a sophisticated audience while simultaneously capturing the viewer’s gaze and emotions. In doing so he created, alongside his contemporaries, a niche market of high demand art and enabled the "viral" circulation of collectable prints among Northern European elites. Three main topics structured my approach. First, the distinctive development of Rudolf II of Prague’s prestigious art collection, the Kunstkammer, …

Mpo Citizens’ Advisory Committee Training Across Florida, Tia Boyd, Taylor Dinehart, Jeff Kramer

CUTR Internal Grant Research Program

Federal law and guidance require Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to involve the public in the comprehensive, cooperative, and continuing (3C) transportation planning process (see 23 CFR Subpart C § 450.316). Additionally, Florida statute s. 339.175 F.S. further requires that all MPOs in Florida have a citizens’ advisory committee (CAC) or an alternative program or mechanism to ensure citizen involvement in the transportation planning process.

CAC members often have an interest in transportation, but they may lack a foundational understanding of transportation planning processes, MPOs, or the roles and duties of the CAC. Training can help fill these knowledge gaps and …

Racial Capitalism, Neocolonial Wealth Transfer, And Canadian International Student Policy, Vincent Wong, Arman Sohi

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper examines historical and contemporary trends in Canadian international student policy through the lens of racial capitalism, arguing that current policy facilitates a significant neocolonial wealth transfer from Global South families to Canada through processes of expropriation, exploitation, and expulsion. It argues that discriminatory tuition fees effectively function as “education head taxes”, which extract billions of dollars annually from international students. Meanwhile, “gauntlets” to permanent residency have emerged in an immigration landscape where working class migrants have narrower options to regularize, creating a system of labour exploitation where student-labourers face precarious conditions and structural indebtedness. Finally, the constant threat …

Defining Identity: Black Women's Personhood As Examined In Sula, The Secret Lives Of Church Ladies, And Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, And Black Women In America, Taylor King

Theses (2016-Present)

My thesis illustrates the components of Black womanhood within Sula by Toni Morrison and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw through the political theories of Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America, by Melissa V. Harris-Perry. These three works reiterate the multifacetedness of Black identity, specifically Black women in the United States of America. Through textual analysis of these works I examine the stereotypes, struggles, and experiences of motherhood, spirituality, and identity within each work and how slavery and racism impact many African American women. In Sula, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, and Sister …

Call It When You See It: Major League Soccer Organization And Pediatric Hospital Team Up For Anti-Bullying Program., Ram Chettiar

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Bullying remains a widespread social issue in the United States (US). Those who bully, are bullied, or witness bullying may experience negative emotional and physical consequences.1 To address the gap in accessible youth bullying interventions, Children's Mercy Kansas City partnered with Sporting Kansas City to develop Red Card KC, a bullying awareness program focusing on the impact of bystanders in bullying situations. The program is delivered to school and community partners through interactive assemblies educating youth on recognizing bullying, managing bullying situations, and standing up against bullying. Red Card KC has also partnered with schools to recognize and celebrate students …

Characterizing Long Covid Symptoms During Early Childhood., Rachel S. Gross, Tanayott Thaweethai, Amy L. Salisbury, Lawrence C. Kleinman, Sindhu Mohandas, Kyung E. Rhee, Jessica N. Snowden, Kelan G. Tantisira, David Warburton, John C. Wood, Patricia A. Kinser, Joshua D. Milner, Erika B. Rosenzweig, Katherine Irby, Valerie J. Flaherman, Elizabeth W. Karlson, Lori B. Chibnik, Deepti B. Pant, Aparna Krishnamoorthy, Richard Gallagher, Michelle F. Lamendola-Essel, Denise C. Hasson, Stuart D. Katz, Shonna Yin, Benard P. Dreyer, Frank Blancero, Megan Carmilani, K Coombs, Megan L. Fitzgerald, Rebecca J. Letts, Aimee K. Peddie, Judy L. Aschner, Andrew M. Atz, Dithi Banerjee, Amanda Bogie, Hulya Bukulmez, Katharine Clouser, Lesley A. Cottrell, Kelly Cowan, Viren A. D'Sa, Allen Dozor, Amy J. Elliott, E Vincent S. Faustino, Alexander G. Fiks, Sunanda Gaur, Maria L. Gennaro, Stewart Gordon, Uzma N. Hasan, Christina M. Hester, Alexander Hogan, Daniel S. Hsia, David C. Kaelber, Jessica S. Kosut, Sankaran Krishnan, Russell J. Mcculloh, Ian C. Michelow, Sheila M. Nolan, Carlos R. Oliveira, Lynn M. Olson, Wilson D. Pace, Paul Palumbo, Hengameh Raissy, Andy Reyes, Judith L. Ross, Juan C. Salazar, Rangaraj Selvarangan, Cheryl R. Stein, Michelle D. Stevenson, Ronald J. Teufel, Alan Werzberger, John M. Westfall, Kathleen Zani, William T. Zempsky, Emily Zimmerman, Marie-Abele C. Bind, James Chan, Zoe Guan, Richard E. Morse, Harrison T. Reeder, Torri D. Metz, Jane W. Newburger, Dongngan T. Truong, Andrea S. Foulkes, Melissa S. Stockwell, Recover-Pediatrics Consortium, Recover-Pediatrics Group Authors

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

IMPORTANCE: Recent studies have identified characteristic symptom patterns of long COVID (LC) in adults and children older than 5 years. However, LC remains poorly characterized in early childhood. This knowledge gap limits efforts to identify, care for, and prevent LC in this vulnerable population.

OBJECTIVES: To identify symptoms that had the greatest difference in frequency comparing children with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection to those without, to identify differences in the types of symptoms by age group (infants/toddlers [0-2 years] vs preschool-aged children [3-5 years]), and to derive an index that can be used in research studies to identify young …

The Pediatric Experience Collaborative: Paving The Way In Pediatric Experience., Lauren Hamilton, Trenton House, Taylor B. Sewell, Harris Baden, Brianna Combs, Sara L. Toomey, Shehzad Saeed, Jana Rojas, Molly Warneke, Maureen Hoff, Andréa Aken'ova, Lisa Rubino, Dana Ileana Williams, Samuel P. Hanke

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Positive patient experience is associated with improved patient outcomes, but efforts to improve patient experience are often underprioritized, especially with respect to pediatric care. To address this challenge, leaders at several US children's hospitals established the Pediatric Experience Collaborative (PEC) in 2016 to leverage their collaboration and scale to optimize patient, family, and provider experiences. Since then, the PEC has steadfastly incorporated the patient and family perspective in all its endeavors (e.g., installing a family member as one of the organization's co-chairs); has created both structured opportunities and unstructured opportunities for learning and connection; and has embarked on multi-institutional research …

Instruct2see: Learning To Remove Any Obstructions Across Distributions, Junhang Li, Yu Guo, Chuhua Xian, Shengfeng He

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Images are often obstructed by various obstacles due to capture limitations, hindering the observation of objects of interest. Most existing methods address occlusions from specific elements like fences or raindrops, but are constrained by the wide range of real-world obstructions, making comprehensive data collection impractical. To overcome these challenges, we propose Instruct2See, a novel zero-shot framework capable of handling both seen and unseen obstacles. The core idea of our approach is to unify obstruction removal by treating it as a soft-hard mask restoration problem, where any obstruction can be represented using multi-modal prompts, such as visual semantics and textual instructions, …

Meta-Black-Box-Optimization Through Offline Q-Function Learning, Zeyuan Ma, Zhiguang Cao, Zhou Jiang, Hongshu Guo, Yue-Jiao Gong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Recent progress in Meta-Black-Box-Optimization (MetaBBO) has demonstrated that using RL to learn a meta-level policy for dynamic algorithm configuration (DAC) over an optimization task distribution could significantly enhance the performance of the low-level BBO algorithm. However, the online learning paradigms in existing works makes the efficiency of MetaBBO problematic. To address this, we propose an offline learning-based MetaBBO framework in this paper, termed Q-Mamba, to attain both effectiveness and efficiency in MetaBBO. Specifically, we first transform DAC task into long-sequence decision process. This allows us further introduce an effective Q-function decomposition mechanism to reduce the learning difficulty within the intricate …

Finir: The 2nd Workshop On Financial Information Retrieval In The Era Of Generative Ai, Fengbin Zhu, Yunshan Ma, Fuli Feng, Chao Wang, Huanbo Luan, Guangnan Ye, Shuo Zhang, Dhagash Mehta, Pingping Chen, Bing Xiang, Tat‑Seng Chua

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Recent advancements in Generative AI, such as Large Language Models (LLMs), have demonstrated remarkable success across various general tasks. Extensive studies have explored leveraging generative models in finance, but significant challenges persist. This half-day workshop explores potential approaches and research directions to address these challenges by equipping generative models with advanced Information Retrieval (IR) models. Specifically, this workshop seeks to provide a platform for discussing innovative ideas that facilitate the advancement of IR technology to enrich generative models in finance from four key perspectives: (i) financial IR techniques (ii) financial IR benchmarking and evaluation (iii) financial systems and agents/assistants (iv) …

Economic Consequences Of Public Pension Accounting Regulation Changes: Evidence From Housing Markets And Local Economies, Grace Haoqing Fan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

I examine whether, and through which channels, government pension accounting regulations affect local housing markets and economies. Using both a contiguous border-county approach across multiple states and a single-state study in California, I find that regions exposed to more severe state-level pension underfunding experience lower housing market growth after the introduction of Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) regulations 67 and 68, which significantly enhance the transparency of public pension underfunding. The effect is more pronounced in states heavily impacted by the new regulations and in counties more reliant on state funding. Further analyses suggest that the observed effect is driven …

Ai And The Narrative Of The Everyday Life: Machine Learning Applied To The Social Mapping Of Rural Music Festivals., Enrique Villamuelas García, Eva Hurtado Torán, Eduardo Roig Segovia

Artículos científicos

Given the growing ubiquity of AI and the consequent valorization of data in territorial representation, it becomes crucial to analyze how multimodal algorithms interpret spatial narratives and community dynamics. This research studies the effects of algorithmic automation on social mappings. Using "Balboa Observa" project, a collaborative web mapping initiative that documents Observatorio Music Festival in Spain, the study explores the interaction between collective cartography, ethnographic analysis, and AIdriven data processing. Unlike conventional AI practices, the prioritizes analyses that avoid imposing structured categories on everyday narratives, allowing inclusion of sensitive information for deeper festival impact understanding. Through multimodal algorithms like CLIP …

Volume 11 Issue 10 (July 1912)

The Soul Winner

No abstract provided.

Emerging Biomimetic Drug Delivery Nanoparticles Inspired By Extracellular Vesicles, Viswanathan Sundaram, Santosh Aryal

Pharmacy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nanoparticles (NPs) made up of cellular components such as extracellular vesicles (EVs) with a biomimetic outlook have emerged as a revolutionary approach in nanomedicine, providing significant benefits for targeted drug administration, immunotherapy, monitoring therapeutic response, and diagnostic applications. Utilizing the distinctive characteristics of natural cell membranes, membrane proteins, and cellular contents, these biomimetic NPs acquire essential biological functions from their source and biogenesis, including immune evasion, extended circulation, and target recognition, rendering them optimal candidates for therapeutic applications. This review offers a comprehensive examination of the methodologies of EVs infused with synthetic.

Exploring Veteran And Non-Veteran Nursing Student Satisfaction Utilizing Marginality And Financial Stress, Juanita Nickols

Nursing Theses and Dissertations

It is widely recognized that there is a nursing shortage in the U.S. due to a growing aging population, nurses retiring, and a low nursing school capacity. Nursing schools can ameliorate part of this shortage by devising ways to increase nursing student success and graduation rates. This three-manuscript paper aims to present various ideas to help nursing schools in this endeavor. A relatively unstudied population is the veteran nursing student (VNS), the focus of this paper. The first chapter, Chapter 2: A Concept Analysis of Overload: Implications for Undergraduate Nursing Students Success, discusses the concept of overload so the …

Property Values: Accounting For Racial Valorization And Stigmatization In Development, Audrey G. Mcfarlane

Articles

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of An English Language Learner Program In A Florida Middle School, Kristifer M. Harden

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

A growing number of English Language Learners (ELLs) exists within the United States. The purpose of this study was to explore administrators' and teachers' perceptions of a school district’s ELL program and determine how those perceptions align with the ELL supports used in the classrooms of a small school district in Florida. The study intended to answer the question: How do the perceptions of an ELL program held by the administrators and teachers responsible for the implementation of the ELL program differ from one another and from the ELL supports being provided in classrooms? This qualitative case study was developed …

Navigating Learning Gaps: Exploring Elementary Teachers’ Perspectives On Literacy-Based Strategies For Ells In Group Instruction, Ashley N. Banegas

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

Teachers are to implement frequent pedagogical self-reflection to effectively differentiate instruction in whole-class and small-group settings for English language learners (ELLs). This qualitative, exploratory case study explored the perspectives of general elementary education teachers toward implementing varied instructional strategies used to target the literacy learning gap in ELLs. This current study investigated 12 kindergarten through fifth-grade teachers from a public charter school in southern Florida who participated in an interview or completed a journal entry. Information retrieved from scholarly literature and data were analyzed to answer this study’s three research questions. Findings determined the importance of teachers’ learning about their …

The Effects Of Extreme Weather On Rural Transportation Infrastructure And Crop Prices Along The Lower Mississippi River, James Mitchell, Hunter D. Biram

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Faculty Publications and Presentations

Extreme weather events are worsening the fragile rural infrastructure in the United States, impacting trade flows of agricultural products. The Mississippi River, vital for transporting agricultural commodities, reached historic lows during the 2022 and 2023 fall harvests, increasing transportation costs and lowering crop prices. This paper estimates the cost of these drought events by analyzing Arkansas soybean basis data and Mississippi River stream gauge data. Low river levels significantly weaken soybean prices, with the impact being a function of a grain market's distance to a river port. Findings have implications for public policy investment in rural infrastructure and risk management …

The Evaluation Of Anti-Factor Xa Levels In Hospitalised Patients Receiving Low Molecular Weight Heparin (Lmwh): A Prospective Study, Tandzile Thandwayinkosi Simelane

Master of Medicine in Clinical Pathology

Background 

Patients admitted to the hospital have been reported to have coagulation abnormalities due to various factors including immobilisation, preexisting disease, and current illness. The overall incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in critically ill patients varies from 15% to well over 50%, even with the use of prophylactic measures in most patients. Low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) and unfractionated heparin (UFH) are the recommended drugs for VTE prophylaxis in inpatient care. Although not standardly recommended, the laboratory can offer monitoring of anti-Factor Xa using the gold standard method of chromogenic anti-Factor X assay. The anti-Factor Xa levels are notably affected …

The Use Of Visuals In Preschool Settings To Improve Student Engagement And Student Participation At Group Timet, Lexie Flug

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Engagement are participation in early childhood are essential for social growth and child development. Distractions at group time are a barrier to student engagement and participation. These distractions lead to less instructional time. Research shows higher levels of engagement and participation increase academic success. This inquiry-based research study aims to determine if the visual support of "Give Me 5" increases student engagement and participation at group time. The study utilized a qualitative approach, using classroom observations and teacher questionnaires for a preschool classroom. The findings revealed that implementing visual support at group time increased student participation with a slight increase …

Sel Integration Into The Kindergarten Curriculum, Brooke Kingsley

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This inquiry-based research project investigates the effectiveness and efficiency of integrating social emotional learning (SEL) into the kindergarten curriculum. With a growing number of young learners entering school lacking foundational emotional regulation and social skills, the study examines how explicit SEL instruction can be embedded meaningfully into daily academic routines. The researcher used qualitative methods, including teacher surveys, reflective journaling, literature review, and analysis of classroom behavior artifacts from a rural Iowa school district. Six kindergarten teachers participated in the survey, providing insight into current SEL integration strategies, perceived effectiveness, and common barriers. Results showed that while all teachers integrate …

Project-Based Learning Vs Traditional Teaching Methods, James Kingsley

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This study explored how teachers compare Project-Based Learning (PBL) with traditional teaching methods in elementary classrooms. Many schools today still rely heavily on lectures, worksheets, and test-based instruction, which can leave students feeling disconnected and unmotivated. This research began with the problem that students often lose interest in learning when it feels disconnected from the real world. The purpose of this study was to better understand teacher's perspectives on PBL and whether they believe it increases student engagement, learning, and life skills. Using a mixed-methods survey with both multiple choice and open-ended questions, the study gathered responses from elementary educators …