Digital Commons Network^™

Procedural Justice And Instructional Alignment In Body-Worn Camera Policies: A Comparative Policy Analysis Of Large U.S. Urban Police Departments, Michael A. O'Connor

Theses and Dissertations from DePaul University

This study examined how written Body-Worn Camera (BWC) policies in large U.S. urban police departments operationalize Procedural Justice (PJ) through instructional alignment and how those policies shape expectations for officer training. Policy analysis showed that all departments required BWC activation during key encounters such as traffic stops and arrests and included some form of supervisory review. However, substantial variation existed in policies governing data retention, citizen notification, pre-report viewing safeguards and documentation requirements, and disciplinary guidance. These inconsistencies were most evident in the PJ dimensions of neutrality and voice, particularly where policies permitted pre-report viewing without consistent documentation requirements and …

Implementing Student Choice Through Social-Emotional Learning To Support Independence And Motivation In Elementary Education, Allison Sloan

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Most people feel more motivated and invested in the work they are doing when they have a voice in the matter. This remains true for elementary students with their school work. This capstone paper analyzes and compares research articles to answer the guiding question: How can classroom strategies grounded in SEL and student choice promote independence while supporting diverse learning needs? The guiding question and project were created due to a noticeable lack of choice being represented and provided in elementary classrooms. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between student choice, social-emotional learning, and student independence …

Finding The Confidence To Speak: Reducing Public Speaking Anxiety In Secondary English Students, Nickolas Johnson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Public speaking is an essential academic, professional, and civic skill, yet many secondary students experience anxiety when asked to speak in front of peers and when assigned a presentation. This capstone project explored the question: How can secondary English language arts teachers develop methods to decrease anxiety around students who struggle with public speaking? The end result of this project is a Google Site resource guide that is designed for secondary English language arts teachers. The site provides background information on public speaking anxiety in the classroom, a bank of low-stakes speaking activities that can be used independently or in …

Supported Decision-Making And The Inclusion Of People Who Lack Decisional Capacity In Greater Than Minimal Risk Research, Aaron Eli Segal, David Wendler, Dana Howard

Faculty and Staff Publications

In recent years, some have argued that supported decision-making can be ethically superior to surrogate decision-making with respect to decisions involving adults with cognitive and intellectual impairments or disabilities. In this paper, we argue that supported decision-making could also be ethically superior to surrogate decision-making in the context of clinical research that involves greater than minimal net risks. In current practice, adults who lack decisional capacity are often excluded from research that involves greater than minimal net risks (call this the minimal risk requirement). While this approach is intended to protect them, it can be ethically problematic, in part because …

Replacing Surrogate Decision-Making With Supported Decision-Making For Minimal Risk Research, Jennifer Hawkins, Aaron Eli Segal, David Wendler, Dana Howard

Faculty and Staff Publications

We advocate for a change in the way individuals with cognitive impairment are enrolled in minimal risk clinical research. We do so in the hope that such a change will lead to more cognitively impaired individuals being enrolled in research. Our proposal applies only to cases where would-be participants retain some interest in decision-making as well as the ability to express a decision. In these cases, we argue that the common practice whereby researchers either obtain consent from the individual or consent from a surrogate and assent from the individual, is ethically unnecessary. Instead, a process of facilitated decision-making based …

Board Exam Preparation Resource Trends In Academic Health Sciences Libraries Serving Colleges Of Osteopathic Medicine Programs, Joanne M. Muellenbach, Kyle Robinson, Hsin-Liang Chen, Harold S. Bright Iv, Lori A. Fitterling

Faculty and Staff Publications

Background: The study seeks to identify the board exam preparation (prep) resources made available to medical students by academic health sciences libraries and other departments within U.S. colleges of osteopathic medicine (COM) programs, and the extent to which these resources are utilized by medical students and educators.

Methods: The study was conducted in two phases. In phase one, forty-two COM library directors were invited to complete a survey regarding their usage, funding, and access models for available board prep resources. In phase two, semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom to explore the library's role in providing access to these resources. …

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 10, Number 6, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Emerging Pfas Contaminants In Water: Review And Future Perspectives, Baljit Singh, Zina Fredj, Rangasamy Savitha, Abhijnan Bhat, Gayathree Thenuwara, Isha Dahiya, Suneha Goswami, Simrjit Singh, Xolile Fuku

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely used in numerous industrial and consumer products. These compounds exhibit remarkable environmental persistence which allows them to accumulate in ecosystems and pose serious risks to water quality, the environment and human health, thereby underscoring the urgent need for effective monitoring and control. To mitigate the long-term impacts of PFAS contamination, robust and reliable advanced analytical methods and sensor technologies are essential. This review critically examines current analytical methods, including coupled chromatographic techniques, emerging sensor-based (optical and electrochemical sensors) methods and separation-based electrophoresis for PFAS detection. Recent progress in device miniaturisation coupled with integration …

Multi-Scale Modeling Method For Intelligent Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarm Combat, Yelei Zhu, Shoulin Shen, Jiang Zhu, Chuanhua Wen

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle swarm combat exhibits multi-scale characteristics of microlevel tactical autonomy, meso-level resource constraints, and macro-level network collaboration. In view of the problem that a single-scale modeling method is difficult to simultaneously characterize individual decision-making details, resource flow process, and system collaboration mechanism, a multi-scale modeling method integrating multi-agent modeling, system dynamics, and complex network theory was proposed. By designing six formal coupling operators to achieve cross-layer information mapping, a time progression mechanism based on a master-slave clock and hybrid synchronization was established, and a proof of error boundedness was provided. A prototype system was implemented on …

Amplifying Change For Adolescent Girls In West And Central Africa Through Economic Empowerment, Mame Soukeye Mbaye, Sarah Engebretsen, Maty Dia, Karen Austrian

Adolescents and Young People

The Girls’ Futures in Focus: Evidence from West and Central Africa series examines the challenges facing adolescent girls in the region and highlights evidence-informed approaches to improving their lives. This brief summarizes the evidence on adolescent girls’ economic empowerment—income, livelihoods, savings, financial inclusion, agency, transition to work, or all of the above—in West and Central Africa, drawing in particular on evidence from the GIRL Center’s priority countries. The brief points to what shifts adolescent girls’ economic trajectories in the region, especially in fragile and low-resource settings.

Improving Continuity Of Care: Evaluating Universal Nursing Handoff Sheets, Elizabeth Ifeloluwa Sanya

Doctor of Nursing Practice Posters and Presentations

Effective communication during nursing handoffs is essential for safe, patient-centered care, as breakdowns in communication are a leading cause of adverse patient outcomes. At a large academic level I trauma center, inconsistent nursing handoff practices were identified across progressive care units following the COVID-19 pandemic. This variability contributed to incomplete transfer of patient information and was associated with increased patient safety incidents, including delayed wound care, central line dressing lapses, and medication errors involving high-alert therapies. The purpose of this DNP project was to plan, implement, and evaluate the use of  standardized nursing handoff sheet and its impact on continuity …

Hope College Magazine, Volume 58, Number 1: Summer 2026, Hope College

Hope College Magazine

No abstract provided.

Bibliography For "Faculty Publications Book Display", Sally Park

Library Displays and Bibliographies

A bibliography created to support a display about faculty publications during summer 2026 at the Leatherby Libraries at Chapman University.

Harnessing Nitrogen Fixing Plants For A Bio-Solar Nitrogen Economy, Taufiq Nawaz, Liping Gu, James Young, Riffat Latif, Mazhar Sher, Lan Xu, Shah Fahad, Ruanbao Zhou

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

The fossil fuel–driven chemosynthesis of ammonia for nitrogen fertilizers is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, releasing approximately 1130 million metric tons (MMT) of CO₂-equivalent annually. In addition, the extensive use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers (≈108 MMT annually) results in substantial emissions of nitrous oxide (N₂O), while nearly 50% of applied nitrogen is lost through leaching and runoff, leading to widespread nitrate pollution and ecosystem degradation. In contrast, solar-powered biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) by nitrogen-fixing plants offers a sustainable alternative that supports agricultural productivity and healthy ecosystem resilience. BNF by leguminous and non-leguminous plants …

Personalizable Metabolic Models To Enable Immune Characterization And Drug Discovery, Joshua Loecker

Department of Biochemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cellular metabolism is reshaped by disease and physiological state, and genome-scale metabolic networks (GSMNs) offer a systematic way to interrogate this biology and identify therapeutic targets. Building a GSMN from expression data, however, requires a sequence of stages including read processing, normalization and gene-activity classification, multi-omic integration, model reconstruction, simulation, and biological interpretation. These are typically handled by disconnected tools spanning multiple programming languages, file formats, and databases. The resulting reliance on heterogeneous interfaces and manual steps threatens reproducibility. This work develops an ecosystem of computational tools that carry an analysis from raw sequencing reads to mechanistic biological interpretation. First, …

Therapy With Empathy

DePaul Magazine

DePaul's Speech Language Pathology and Occupational Therapy graduate programs, newly aligned in the Department of Rehabilitative Sciences and Professions at the College of Science and Health, employ a community assets-based approach to serving diverse populations and individuals' needs across the lifespan.

Integrating Cover Crops To Enhance Abaca (Musa Textilis Nee) Production In Leyte, East-Central Philippines, Janet Moriles Miller, David Clay, S. A. Clay, D. E. Clay, R. Armecin

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

Abaca (Musa textilis Nee) is a fiber crop, closely related to banana (Musa sp.). However, it requires 15–18 months from transplanting to first harvest, leaving the soil between plants vulnerable to erosion or weed infestation. Integrating cover crops into abaca plantations may help mitigate these issues. This study aimed to examine the influence of diverse cover crop species on abaca production during its early and late growth phases. Two experiments were conducted to assess the impacts of cover crops on abaca. First, the impact of forage peanut (Arachis pintoi) and koronivia grass (Brachiaria humidicola) …

Electronic Resource Updates - 2026 Q2, Brigitte Galauner, Gregg Harris

Electronic Resources Quarterly Updates

No abstract provided.

Voices Unheard: A Phenomenological Study Of Access And Inclusion Of College Students With Autism In The Southeastern United States, Janet L. Kuchinski

Dissertations

Although access to higher education has expanded for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), many continue to encounter barriers to meaningful inclusion, belonging, and participation within the college environment. The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study was to explore the lived experiences of college students with ASD regarding access and inclusion in higher education. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit five college students with ASD who were at least 19 years of age, currently enrolled in college, and registered with disability services. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted via Microsoft Teams and analyzed using established IPA procedures. …

Reclaiming The Sacred Science Of Garbha Samskara: The Adi Shaiva Tradition's Vision Of Conscious Conception And Prenatal Care, Rani Muthukrishnan

All Faculty Scholarship (Archived)

This paper examines Garbha Samskara practices described in the Garbha Upanishad within the Adi Shaiva tradition, exploring how ancient prenatal sciences cultivated cognitive development and spiritual consciousness in children. Drawing on original Sanskrit verses, the eNpregnancy program revived by Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam (SPH), Akashic record readings, historical accounts of royal women who raised enlightened children, and testimonies of parents participating in the eNpregnancy program in modern times, the study demonstrates that pre-colonial Indian societies possessed advanced understandings of fetal consciousness and maternal–fetal bonding. It argues that modern Western educational paradigms and the contemporary expectations imposed on …

Characteristics Of Intensive Care Unit Registries - Findings From The Global Registry Icu Datasets (Grid) Survey, Luigi Pisani, Paola Lecce, Cornelius Sendagire, Vrindha Pari, Carlo Olivieri, Rabiul Uddin, Diptesh Aryal, Priyantha Athapattu, Sean Bagshaw, Wangari Siika

Anaesthesiology, East Africa

Background: Intensive care unit registries, which aim to improve the quality of intensive care unit care through benchmarking and quality improvement initiatives, are active worldwide, with considerable dishomogeneity. We aimed to map core datasets, additional variables, and research activities of these registries.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was disseminated to registry leads between October 2023 and June 2024. The survey was structured into four main topics: registry characteristics and coverage, core dataset features, additional modules, and registry-enabled research.

Results: Leads of 34/42 national registries responded (response rate 81%), covering 3,337 intensive care units, with a larger representation from …

Nh 4-H Dog Show Scoresheet, Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Bison Health Network Newsletter, July 2026, Bison Health Network

Bison Health Network News

Newsletter Content:

Updates
Network Demographics
Health Highlight: Clostridial Disease
Proper vaccine handling matters.
Management practices help reduce risk.

Psych News, Summer 2026, Illinois State University, Department Of Psychology

PSY News

Newsletter of the Illinois State University Department of Psychology

Adjustment Challenges In The International Student Population At A Rural Mid-Size Midwestern University, Sara El Bizri Hussein

All NMU Master's Theses

This qualitative descriptive study explored the adjustment experiences of non-athlete international students attending a rural, mid-size Midwestern university and identified the challenges and supports that shaped their transition.

Guided by Berry’s acculturation framework and informed by theories of student integration and coping, data were collected through an initial survey and semi-structured interviews. Seven participants were interviewed. Interview transcripts were analyzed using open and focused coding procedures to identify recurring patterns and themes.

Analysis revealed that international student adjustment is multidimensional and influenced by social, academic, emotional, cultural, environmental, and structural factors. Three major themes emerged from the data: (1) Social …

Assessing The Relationship Between The Degree Of Static And Dynamic Quadricep Angle And Kinetic Asymmetry Index % In Females During The Follicular Phase Of Menstruation, Madeline Grace Poirier

All NMU Master's Theses

The quadriceps angle (q-angle) quantifies lateral pull on the knee. Females have greater static and dynamic q-angles due to anatomical factors including a wider pelvis and more lateral tibial tuberosity, which may influence ACL injury risk. The kinetic asymmetry index (KAI %) measures limb-to-limb differences in ground reaction force (GRF) impulses during dynamic tasks including countermovement jumps (CMJs), with values > 10% linked to injury risk. During the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, fluctuating hormones increase joint laxity, further heightening biomechanical vulnerability in females.

This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between static and dynamic q-angle and KAI % in active, …

Spreading Awareness And Advocating For The Shortage Of Special Education Resources In Martin County, Florida, Lynn Potter

Selected Social Change Portfolios in Prevention, Intervention, and Consultation

Goal Statement:

The goal is to prevent staff shortages of special education and student support professionals in Martin County, FL, and advocate for systemic changes that improve staff retention, raise awareness, and expand special education resources.

Significant Findings:

The shortage of ESE resources in Martin County, Florida, is affecting students’ success outcomes and relationships between parents and educators. With a 42% turnover rate over the past four years, the district needs to drastically improve teacher retention (WPBF 25 News, 2023). The western zone of Indiantown, which has a minority population of Hispanic and Latino students, is critically affected (United States …

Spikerff: Learning Forward With Layer-Local Plasticity And Semi-Hard Negatives, Karthik Tumkur Kumar

Theses

Effective contrastive learning relies on choosing useful, informative "hard" negative samples. Current hard negative sampling methods designed for traditional artificial neural networks (ANNs) are, in general, computationally costly and are ill-suited to account for the temporal structure relevant to neuromorphic data. To tackle these issues, in this work, we formulate a similarity-guided semi-hard negative sampling strategy for neuromorphic computing based on spiking neural networks (SNNs). We propose SpikeRFF (Spiking Recurrent Forward-Forward), a gradient-free and unsupervised recurrent spiking framework that combines layer-local Forward-Forward learning with semi-hard negative selection and temporally structured negative construction. Positive samples are encouraged to produce high goodness, …

Distinct Regulatory Dna Methylation Signatures Across Multiple Sclerosis, Neuromyelitis Optica, And Neurological Post-Acute Sequelae Of Covid-19, Syed Ilyas Munzir, Daniel B. Hier, Michael D. Carrithers

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Background/Objectives: Our prior epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) on multiple sclerosis (MS) identified myeloid-associated methylation signatures and an association with enhancer regions. Here we compared differential DNA methylation across three central nervous system inflammatory disorders: MS, neuromyelitis optica (NMO), and neurologic post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (neuro-PASC). Methods: Whole-blood DNA was profiled on Infinium MethylationEPIC arrays. Analyses included EWAS at the CpG level, differentially methylation region (DMR) analysis, and gene regulatory-element enrichment using Locus Overlap Analysis (LOLA). Limma linear models were adjusted for race, EPIC array version, age, sex, disease-modifying treatment class, and blood cell composition. Results: All three diseases were associated …

After A Fire: Considerations For Residential Property Soil Testing And Restoration, Andrew J. Whelton, Todd Thalhamer, Yiming Liu, Sarah Miller, Hua Cai

Resilience to Emergencies and Disasters

No abstract provided.