Digital Commons Network^™

Feasibility Of Using Untreated And Treated Rice Straw Fibers As A Modifier For Hot Mix Asphalt, Aditya Chowdhury

Civil Engineering Theses

Flexible pavements are subject to progressive deterioration driven by repeated traffic loading, environmental exposure, and material degradation, which causes distress. This study presents an integrated research framework that combines laboratory performance evaluation of rice straw fiber (RSF)-modified hot mix asphalt with machine learning-based pavement distress prediction to advance sustainable pavements. Three plant-produced HMA mixtures were modified with untreated and alkali-treated RSF at dosage levels of 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.6% by total mixture weight. FTIR spectroscopic analysis confirmed that alkali treatment induced significant chemical modifications to the fiber surface, increasing hydroxyl group availability and enhancing fiber–binder adhesion. Alkali-treated RSF consistently outperformed …

Teaching Through Sound: Approaches To The Use Of Fixed Media In Pedagogical Viola Etudes, Roberto C. Mochetti Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the pedagogical possibilities of fixed media in newly composed viola etudes. While fixed media is commonly treated as accompaniment or as a performance medium, this project argues that it can also serve as an active component of technical and musical training. By providing stable and repeatable sonic environments, fixed media can support forms of listening, intonation, sound production, and performer awareness that are difficult to cultivate through traditional etudes alone. This argument responds to a broader pedagogical gap in string training, where long-established etudes and models of technical development remain central even as contemporary viola performance increasingly …

Biotic Therapies For Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Current Interventions, Gina Wodarczyk, Maria Winte, Diana Mastellone, Termen Singh, Joshua Desipio, Sangita Phadtare

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Faculty Papers

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by recurrent abdominal pain and changes in bowel habits without measurable disease processes. Recent research emphasizes the gut-brain-microbiome (GBM) axis and explores how microbiota influence gastrointestinal and central nervous system functions. Here, we first discuss a brief overview of various treatment approaches for IBS, focusing on interventions such as probiotics, prebiotics, or synbiotics that target the GBM axis in adults with IBS. Relevant trials discussed the use of probiotics, prebiotics, or synbiotics.

Metabolic Syndrome Is Associated With Increased Mortality In Patients With Breast Or Prostate Cancer, Jessica P Hwang, Ning Zhang, Mercy W Misoi, Sabhi Gull, Zayd A Razouki, Justin R Gregg, Natalia I Heredia, Sharon H Giordano

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We investigated the association of metabolic syndrome (MetS) with mortality in patients with breast and prostate cancer. Breast and prostate cancer cohorts were created retrospectively using the SEER-Medicare database. Patients with first primary breast or prostate cancer diagnosed in 2008-2019 were identified using ICD-O-3 site and histology codes. Among those, patients with MetS were identified using ICD-9/10-CM codes, CPT/HCPCS codes, and prescription drug use from Medicare claims files. We defined continuous enrollment from 12 months before through 12 months after diagnosis, exposure during the first 12 months after diagnosis, and survival follow-up starting 12 months after diagnosis. We used multivariable …

Deep Learning Single-Cell Analysis For Cytologic Evaluation Of Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders, Michael P Mcrae, Kritika S Rajsri, Nadarajah Vigneswaran, A Ross Kerr, Spencer W Redding, Martin H Thornhill, Craig Murdoch, Paul M Speight, Nancy Ruel, Rachelle Wolk, Ryan R Ruff, John T Mcdevitt

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) such as leukoplakia and erythroplakia may harbor dysplasia or progress to oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), yet visual inspection alone is unreliable for risk assessment. Cytology offers a minimally invasive adjunct, but conventional approaches depend on manual feature extraction and subjective review. Herein we report a deep learning (DL) object detection model that directly classifies four cell phenotypes: differentiated squamous epithelial (DSE) cells, small round (SR) cells, leukocytes, and lone nuclei. The DL model produced cytology-derived parameters that correlated strongly with histopathologic diagnoses across 692 subjects with OPMDs, OSCC, and healthy controls, including declining DSE …

Barry Conservation Camp Family Guide, Andy Schafermeyer

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Board Of Directors Meeting Minutes (July 13, 2026), Dmacc Board Of Directors

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

This file contains the minutes from the Des Moines Area Community College Board meeting held on July 13, 2026.

Performance Evaluation Of Approximate Nearest Neighbor Search On Nvidia Bluefield-3 Dpu, Sophia Bhoria, Nathan Tibbetts, Arjun Kirubakaran, Alima Subedi, Satish Puri

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Advanced SmartNICs known as Data Processing Units (DPU) enable in-network data analytics, being equipped with standard processors and accelerators capable of doing custom computation on-NIC. These SmartNICs are advantageous because the host CPU can delegate simpler data analytics tasks, like filtering, to the NIC where the data first arrives. Only data needing further refinement must be passed on to the host CPU. Our benchmarks focus on NVIDIA's commercially available Bluefield-3 DPU. Similarity search, particularly Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) search, is an important domain with wide usage across numerous applications. We explore ANN search on SmartNICs, providing insight into the performance …

Language Learner To Author: Ai-Assisted Children's Book And Theme Song Creation For Community Outreach, Hea Young Chun

Generative AI Teaching Activities

Students will use AI tools to create original children's storybooks, complete with accompanying theme songs, and subsequently present their finished works to students at local schools.

Firms In The Flood: Is Fema Failing Small Businesses?, Lauryn Charles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

When faced with a natural disaster, small businesses remain largely outside the direct reach of federal assistance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates that up to 65% of small businesses close within two years of direct impact by a hazard event. Despite this vulnerability, existing research has focused primarily on infrastructure and household recovery, leaving the small business sector underexamined. This study is the first to link county-level IRS income data, FEMA mitigation grants, and SBA disaster records to empirically evaluate whether federal pre-disaster mitigation spending and community social resilience moderate the relationship between disasters and small business recovery …

Challenges In Scaling R-Tree Spatial Search On Processing-In-Memory, Tasmia Jannat, Michael Gowanlock, Satish Puri

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Spatial query processing is important in scientific, geospatial, and data-intensive applications. R-trees are widely used to index spatial objects, but their query-dependent traversal creates irregular work across different regions. This poster studies the challenges of scaling R-tree spatial search on a commercial Processing-in-Memory (PIM) system. Although PIM reduces CPU to memory data movement by executing search near memory, it does not remove full-pipeline overheads: the host still manages data placement, query batching, kernel launches, result retrieval, and aggregation. Our results show strong DPU-side search acceleration, with PIM kernel speedup ranging from about 20 x to 73 x, but end-to-end speedup …

Learning Programming In Informal Spaces: Using Emotion As A Lens To Understand Novice Struggles On R/Learnprogramming, Alif Al Hasan, Subarna Saha, Mia Mohammad Imran

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Novice programmers experience emotional difficulties in informal online learning environments, where Confusion and Frustration can hinder motivation and learning outcomes. This study investigates novice programmers' emotional experiences in informal settings, identifies causes of emotional struggle, and explores design opportunities for affect-aware support systems. We manually annotated 1,500 posts from r/learnprogramming using the Learning-Centered Emotions framework, applying clustering, and axial coding. Confusion, Curiosity, and Frustration dominated emotional experiences, sometimes co-occurring and linked to early learning stages. Positive emotions were infrequent. The primary emotional triggers included ambiguous errors, unclear learning pathways, and misaligned resources. We identify five key areas where novice programmers …

Subjective Sleep Disruption, Coping, And Anxiety And Related Symptoms In The Perinatal Period: Findings From A Longitudinal Study, Rebecca C Cox, Caroline P Hoyniak, Jack Samuels, Jonathan S Abramowitz, Gerald Nestadt, Eric A Storch, Rashelle Musci, Paul Nestadt, Lauren M Osborne, Mary Kimmel

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Study objectives: Anxiety is common during the perinatal period and is associated with adverse maternal and infant outcomes, highlighting a need to identify predictors of perinatal anxiety. Accumulating research implicates sleep disruption in perinatal anxiety and related symptoms, including obsessive-compulsive symptoms. We examined the associations among insomnia symptoms and sleep duration with perinatal anxiety, obsessive beliefs, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and the moderating role of coping from pregnancy through postpartum.

Methods: A sample of 231 women (agemean = 32.97 ± 4.36 years; 74% white) completed interview and self-report measures of sleep, coping, perinatal anxiety, obsessive beliefs, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in early …

Trust And Signaling: An Exploratory Study Of Residential Attitudes Towards Energy Efficiency Advisors And Outdoor Media, Hal T. Nelson, Ivana Osmanovic

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

As the building sector shifts toward community-led energy efficiency (EE) initiatives to mitigate the climate crisis, scaling adoption requires understanding behavioral drivers. This study examines key drivers of EE measure adoption: perceived non-energy benefits, trusted advisors, and behavioral signaling. This research contributes to the energy policy and social science literature by empirically linking social trust with signaling preferences. It extends existing EE adoption decision theories by identifying distinct clusters of “expert” versus “close” advisors across demographic groups. Data from an experimental survey (n = 238) in Portland, Oregon, were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and multivariate regression modeling. Results …

“This Place Is My Home”: A Phenomenological Study Of The Academic Experiences And Sense Of Belonging Of Specially Admitted Student-Athletes At Division I Universities, Jana Alexandra Valentine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

The purpose of this study was to further understand the experiences of specially admitted student-athletes regarding their sense of belonging. In addition, this study aims to add to the existing literature regarding support services for student-athletes. The three research questions for this study were: 1. How do specially admitted student-athletes at Division I Universities make meaning of their admissions experiences? 2. What contributes to developing a sense of belonging of specially admitted student-athletes at Division I universities? 3. How do specially admitted student-athletes make meaning of their academic experiences at their university? A qualitative, descriptive phenomenological research approach was used …

Mandating Proactive Algorithmic Accountability: A Study Of Legal, Economic, And Technological Challenges In Combating Human Trafficking On Chinese Social Media Platforms, Haoyu Dong

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Human trafficking increasingly relies on digital platforms, where algorithms connect traffickers with buyers, amplify illicit content, and facilitate transactions at an unprecedented scale. Yet China's legal framework remains largely reactive, imposing liability on platforms only after illegal content has been detected and removed. This Article argues that such a notice-and-takedown approach is no longer sufficient to combat trafficking in an algorithm-driven online environment.

This Article proposes a proactive model of algorithmic accountability. It contends that digital platforms should be held legally responsible when they fail to design, monitor, and refine their algorithms to prevent the dissemination and amplification of trafficking-related …

The Impact Of Leadership Communication And Organizational Trust On Psychological Safety And Employee Voice In Healthcare Organizations, Crystal D. Smith

M.S. in Leadership

Healthcare organizations operate in increasingly complex environments where effective communication, employee engagement, and patient safety are essential to organizational success. Despite the importance of employee voice, many healthcare professionals hesitate to express concerns, report errors, or share ideas for improvement because of perceived interpersonal and organizational risks. This study examines how leadership communication and organizational trust influence psychological safety and employee voice within healthcare organizations. Using a qualitative literature review, the study synthesizes scholarly research from healthcare leadership, organizational behavior, organizational psychology, healthcare management, and patient safety. The review explores major themes, including psychological safety, leadership communication, organizational trust, employee …

Reflections: My Personal Journey, Jerry L. Pitts

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reflections: My Personal Journey is the heartfelt and inspiring memoir of Jerry L. Pitts Jr., a man whose life was transformed by faith, perseverance, and God's grace. From a turbulent childhood marked by frequent moves, rebellion, and poor choices, to becoming a devoted husband, father, educator, and servant of God, this powerful testimony reveals how divine purpose can emerge from life's greatest struggles.

Through deeply personal stories, Jerry shares his journey from the "road to destruction" to a life dedicated to serving Christ. Readers will walk beside him through broken relationships, career setbacks, military service, family triumphs, heartbreaking loss, spiritual …

Occult Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma With No Identifiable Intrathyroidal Primary: A Case Report And Pooled Analysis Of 23 Published Cases, Michael J. Evans, Amanda M. Sonnenburg, Elijah Elliott, Alex Otto, Kent Mcintire

Student Publications

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) rarely presents as cervical lymph node metastasis without an identifiable intrathyroidal primary despite exhaustive imaging and histopathologic evaluation, representing the rarest form of occult thyroid carcinoma and posing distinct diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. We report a 27-year-old man who presented with a cystic lateral neck mass. Fine-needle aspiration confirmed metastatic PTC, yet ultrasonography, computed tomography, and positron emission tomography/computed tomography demonstrated no thyroid abnormality. Total thyroidectomy with modified radical neck dissection revealed metastatic PTC in two of the 21 lymph nodes (pN1b) without extranodal extension, while exhaustive sectioning of the thyroid demonstrated only chronic inflammatory changes …

Slc Transporter-Mediated Functional Imaging In Cancer Diagnosis, Lumeng Zhang, Jun He

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Functional imaging has become an important approach for evaluating tumor physiology in vivo beyond morphologic assessment. Radiotracers used for cancer imaging are designed to mimic endogenous substrates or substrate analogues, and their accumulation can depend on membrane transport, intracellular metabolism, and clearance from normal tissues. Specifically, SLC transporters contribute to tracer uptake and signal formation, linking transporter activity with measurable imaging signals in cancer. While [18F]FDG PET/CT remains the most widely used example of transporter-associated metabolic imaging, SLC transporter-mediated imaging strategies have been developed to assess amino acid transport, sodium-dependent glucose uptake, redox metabolism, lactate exchange, nucleoside metabolism, choline metabolism, …

Counted In: Including Female Composers In Orchestral Horn Audition Repertoire, Hope K. Ayers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Institute of Composer Diversity and the Boulanger Initiative focus on music written by composers who have been historically excluded from the profession. The focal point of the Institute of Composer Diversity is discovery, study, and programming of such composers through its database and reports, while The Boulanger Initiative advocates for women and all gender-marginalized composers. Because of limited exposure, incomplete records, difficulty of procuring music, and identified bias, female composers’ orchestral works are underrepresented in orchestral programming. Professional orchestral horn audition repertoire is no different, with professional orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic, only very recently including a …

What I Brought With Me: Bilingualism, Resistance, And Identity In U.S. Doctoral Education, Xiao Hu

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

In U.S. higher education, the bilingualism of international doctoral students is often reduced to a measure of English deficiency rather than recognized as a linguistic and cultural resource. Drawing on Anzaldúa's borderlands theory, this autoethnographic study examines the lived experiences of a female Chinese international doctoral student negotiating bilingual identity in U.S. academia. Using personal journals, written correspondence, field notes, and memories of significant encounters as data, this inquiry explores three dimensions of experience: the ways bilingual identity is misread or appropriated in academic spaces; the relationships that offered recognition and belonging; and the cultural and pedagogical knowledge that bilingualism …

Medieval, Magical, Or Melodramatic? Depictions Of Elrond Half-Elven In Film And Television Adaptations, Kristine Larsen

Journal of Tolkien Research

Elrond Half-elven acts as an important bridge between the First, Second, and Third Ages of Middle-earth, as well as between multiple species (Maia, Elf, and Human). He thus presents writers and directors of film and television adaptations with both challenges and opportunities to investigate intersections between the medieval and the modern, myth and magic, fidelity to the original and creative exploration. Adaptations often condense and simplify plot points and scenes for the sake of time or story/telling. In the case of Elrond, this means that we should expect changes in his main scenes in The Hobbit (Elvish sword identification and …

Depression And Anxiety In Pulmonary Hypertension Associated With Congenital Heart Disease: Pathophysiology And Clinical Implications Of The Heart–Brain Axis, Nicodemus N. Triatmojo, Valerinna Y.S. Putri

Journal of the Saudi Heart Association

Pulmonary hypertension associated with congenital heart disease or PH-CHD is an increasingly prevalent disorder in modern cardiology. It is characterized by progressive pulmonary vascular remodeling, chronic right ventricular (RV) pressure overload, and abnormal cardiopulmonary hemodynamic. Due to advances in congenital cardiology and treatments for pulmonary hypertension, survival rates have increased. As a result, the focus has switched to long-term functional status and quality of life. Depression and anxiety are currently recognized as prevalent and clinically significant manifestations in PH-CHD; nonetheless, they remain underdiagnosed and undertreated within cardiovascular care frameworks.

More study shows the disease's severity or symptom count cannot explain …

Multidimensional And Burgeoning Leadership: Literacy And Multilingualism, Emily Howell, Hazel Vega, Lindsey W. Rowe, Katie M. Crook, C.C. Bates, Kavita Mittapalli, Amlan Banerjee

Publications

This design-based research study worked with 25 teachers with specialized early literacy training. Researchers investigated the impact of professional development advancing their multilingual learner (ML), literacy, and leadership capacity, addressing gaps in the research merging the fields of literacy, multilingual instruction, and leadership. Spanning two years of both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis including teacher, student, and district surveys, teacher logs, research logs, and teacher interviews, the researchers capture the iterative nature of the needs of teacher professional development to serve MLs. The researchers describe the needs of teachers for professional development, the micro modifications made to adapt …

A Quantitative Content Analysis Of Media Framing Of Illegal Mining In Ghana, Ebenezer Ato Kwamena Aidoo, Patrick Ansah, Fredrick Daoyenikye, Maame Aba Afful

Faculty Scholarship

Illegal mining in Ghana has attracted considerable public and policy attention due to its far-reaching environmental, social, and health consequences. Our study examines how Ghanaian news media frame illegal mining, the tone of media coverage, and the stakeholders represented in news narratives. Using a quantitative content analysis, 800 news articles were sampled from six widely read media outlets, Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Times, TV3 Ghana, GTV, Joy FM, and Citi Newsroom. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed to examine differences in framing, tone, and stakeholder representation across outlets. Findings indicate that news organizations emphasize distinct frames, resulting in varied …

Transforming Advising And Improving Outcomes: Assessing Impacts Of Advising Changes, Amy S. White, Tailisha Gonzalez, Elgloria Harrison

Publications and Research

Abstract

Background: Earning full-time credit loads and persisting are how college students successfully graduate.

Objective: We measured whether credits and persistence at an urban, commuter Hispanic/Minority-Sserving Iinstitution improved after implementing a social work-based advisement strategy.

Methods: Using a quasi-experimental methodology on a college’s enrollment database, we measured the impact of a new advisement model on earned and attempted credit loads to compare traditional student advisement within control groups (n = 171 and n = 899) relative to intervention (n = 130).

Findings: In 2024, the intervention group attempted an average of 14.7 credits and earned an average of 14.3 credits, …

Feasibility Study Of An Artificial Intelligence Chatbot-Powered Cognitive-Behavioral Lifestyle Modification Program, Evans Forman, Charlotte Hagerman, Asher Hong, Zhuoran Huang, Hannah Mccausland, Jasmine Sun, Lauren Taylor, Meghan Butryn, Preetha Chatterjee, Ramtin Ehsani, Nawal Syed

Department of Family & Community Medicine Faculty Papers

Background: Approximately 2 billion adults seek lifestyle modification to improve their health and well-being. However, because of cost and access barriers, only a tiny fraction receive gold-standard lifestyle modification programs led by trained coaches. Digital programs without human coaches are more disseminable but have limited efficacy. Recent advances in large language model (LLM) AI chatbots have the potential to revolutionize digital programs by emulating human coaches, offering a safe, low-cost, and scalable lifestyle modification intervention. Yet, no studies have developed and tested such a program. Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and user engagement of a new …

A Phase Ii Trial Of Defactinib Combined With Avutometinib In Patients With Metastatic Uveal Melanoma, Rino S. Seedor, Mizue Terai, Sergei A. Koshkin, Andrew E. Aplin, Marlana Orloff, Erin Sharpe-Mills, Madeleine Naccarato, Aurora Mills, Alfredo A. Molinolo, J. Silvio Gutkind, Takami Sato

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

Background: Treatment options are limited, and outcomes remain poor for patients with metastatic uveal melanoma (MUM). We conducted an investigator-initiated, prospective, single-arm, single-institution, phase II study evaluating the combination of an FAK inhibitor (defactinib) with a RAF/MEK inhibitor (avutometinib) for the treatment of MUM. Methods: From February 2021 through January 2023, 12 patients with MUM were treated with the combination of defactinib and avutometinib. Defactinib was given 200 mg twice daily, and avutometinib was given 3.2 mg twice a week. Both drugs were given for 3 weeks on and 1 week off (28-day cycle). Disease control rate was the primary …

Ecological Footprint Assessment, Santina Benincasa

Open Educational Resources

This handout guides students through a structured ecological footprint assessment using the online Footprint Calculator. By following a series of steps—selecting their location, entering detailed lifestyle information, and reviewing personalized results—students evaluate how many planets would be required if everyone lived with their same resource consumption patterns. The activity prompts learners to identify the largest contributors to their footprint, quantify their impact in global hectares, and explore scenario-based changes that could reduce their environmental demand. Through reflection, students consider how everyday human behaviors influence Earth’s productive capacity and resource availability. Overall, the exercise encourages critical thinking about sustainability and personal …