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A Phase-Ii Randomized Controlled Pilot Study Of Nicotinamide Riboside Supplementation In Older Adults With Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, Christopher Martens, Kevin Decker, Theodore Deconne, Faria Sanjana, Fiona Horvat, Nicholas Rizzi, Catherine Awad, Elizabeth Habash, Joshua Hobson, Mary Kramer, Michael Armstrong, Nichole Reisdorph, Ryan Pohlig, Alyssa Lanzi, Curtis Johnson, Matthew Cohen, James Ellison

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: Declining nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) may elevate risk of Alzheimer's disease.

METHODS: We conducted a 12-week double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of the NAD+ precursor, nicotinamide riboside (NR), for enhancing cognitive function and cerebral blood flow (CBF) in adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).

RESULTS: 42 participants completed the study (NR = 22, placebo = 20). Adherence was similar between groups with no serious adverse effects. Blood NAD+ increased twofold in the NR group. There were no improvements in cognitive function (primary outcome), total CBF, or blood pressure (secondary outcomes). …

Animal Assisted Interventions For Older Adults Experiencing Cognitive Impairment, Preeti Bachu

Psychology

As individuals age, they often experience gradual declines in cognitive abilities that ultimately affect their quality of life and independence. Severe cognitive decline is not necessarily a natural or universal part of the aging process and tends to be exacerbated by various neurodegenerative diseases, most notably Alzheimer's disease (Colita et al., 2024). There have been promising outcomes of animal assisted interventions in improving the conditions of several populations and spaces, including educational, rehabilitative, and therapeutic settings. Animal assisted therapy specifically is delivered by a qualified or licensed health professional. Previous research has shown a large benefit in long-term memory, verbal …

Examining The Effectiveness Of Nature Metaphor Patterns For Cultivating Intimacy, Acceptance, Relationship Satisfaction, Self-Compassion, And Positive Communication In Couples, Jenna Rice, Sarah Fraher, Elizabeth Engelkamp, Melissa Mcternan, Hannah Grigorian, James Cordova

Psychology

Effective couple interventions, such as Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy and the Relationship Checkup, include the labeling of common relationship patterns. This study hypothesized that a micro-intervention using nature metaphors, such as “Porcupine–Turtle,” would produce greater improvements in relationship health relative to descriptive labels such as “Approach–Withdraw.” Twenty-five couples were presented with nature metaphor patterns, while 24 couples were presented with descriptive patterns. Several measures of relationship health showed significant improvements across both groups, while other measures showed significant improvements for descriptive patterns only. Generally, nature metaphor patterns were initially rated as more novel and more resonant. Broadly, these results add …

Polarized Truth Decay & The Role Of Education In A Democracy, Sonja Varbelow, William Yaworsky

Anthropology Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to delineate the causes and dangers of truth decay for a democracy, the role education has played in the process, and how education can present a resistance to this dangerous trend. Truth decay has been characterized as an increase in quantity of opinion over fact, divergent views on what constitutes a fact, and decreased confidence of traditional sources of information. We agree that truth decay is a serious problem but would characterize it somewhat differently. Opinions, divergent views, and decreased confidence in traditional sources of information are not detrimental by themselves. Instead, we see …

Highly Confident But Slightly Uncertain: A Long Overdue Reinvention Of The School Scientific Method, Uncertainty And Error - Volume 3, Stephen Demeo

Publications and Research

Volume 3 explores the essential roles of uncertainty and error in scientific experimentation. It distinguishes between scientific error and scientific uncertainty: Scientific error refers to the difference between an experimental value and an accepted literature value, as well as the difference between data points in an x-y scatter plot and a predicted trendline. Scientific uncertainty, on the other hand, is associated with doubt arising from instrument limitations, variability within a data set, and psychological factors. Human error is set apart as mistakes or blunders, not to be conflated with scientific error.

Of utmost importance to the scientific investigator is the …

Highly Confident But Slightly Uncertain: A Long Overdue Reinvention Of The School Scientific Method, The X - Volume 1, Stephen Demeo

Publications and Research

In Volume 1, I critique the traditional School Scientific Method—an oversimplified, underdeveloped, and short, stepwise process—and argue for a more authentic, detailed, and rigorous approach to experiment-based scientific inquiry in education. I briefly explain the historical roots of the School Scientific Method, its benefits in increasing the exposure of experimental science to the masses, and its limitations in fostering more authentic scientific thinking and experimental practice.

In place of this traditional and problematic method, I introduce a graphic organizer called sciXpsy to foster both big-picture and detailed scientific thinking. The heuristic combines scientific concepts and methodology with the psychology of …

Highly Confident But Slightly Uncertain: A Long Overdue Reinvention Of The School Scientific Method, Confidence - Volume 2, Stephen Demeo

Publications and Research

Focusing on the psychology of empirical science, Volume 2 is an in-depth exploration of how students can build confidence in scientific data. Central to the text are twelve Confidence Indicators, a comprehensive set of approachable strategies and methodologies that help investigators produce, evaluate, and argue for reliable and valid empirical data. They include:

Good (and Ethical) Laboratory Practices

Repetition

Peer Replication/Review

Secondary Tests

Comparisons with Standards

Plots and Patterns

Conceptual Support

External Data Sources

Precision

Accuracy

Checking Calculations

Redesign/What-If Ideas

This volume includes numerous school science experiments that demonstrate how these indicators are applied across a wide range of educational …

Through The Lens Of Clarity: Perceived Organizational Tightness Boosts Creativity For Men, But Not For Women, Grace J. H. Lim, Roy Y. J. Chua

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A commonly held perspective in the cultural tightness literature is that cultural tightness tends to negatively impact creativity. Yet some findings indicate that this relationship is not strictly negative and that a more nuanced perspective should be considered. Drawing on social information processing (SIP) theory and social role theory, we build theory on how the perception of organizational cultural tightness can increase creativity for some employees, but not for others. Specifically, we propose that perceived organizational tightness—the extent to which one perceives that an organization is characterized by strong norms and sanctions for deviation—increases clarity on creativity evaluation standards and …

A Systems Analysis Of Autonomous Uav Swarm Spraying For Precision Agriculture, Ryker Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in civilian sectors, particularly for precision agriculture and targeted aerial spraying, has rapidly evolved from passive monitoring to advanced, autonomous, multi-agent coordination. While deploying UAV swarms offers a promising solution to the payload and battery endurance limitations of single drone operations, realizing field-scale coverage introduces significant logistical and safety challenges. To evaluate the trajectory and viability of swarms, this study synthesizes bibliometric trends, operational simulation, and safety reporting analysis. First, because physical testing of complex swarms poses financial and safety risks, we developed an agent-based and discrete event simulation to evaluate autonomous spraying …

Video Games As An Advertising Media: A Comparative Analysis Between Portuguese And Spanish University Students, Alejandro Tapia-Frade, Gema Bonales-Daimiel, Belén Moreno-Albarracín

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Changes in leisure consumption are causing transformations in the relationships between young people and brands. A reflection of this is found in video games, whose predominant user profile is that of young people between 18 and 30 years old. They invest more and more time in digital universes: they play, socialize and even buy, and income from the video game sector has increased year after year in Spain and in the world, surpassing those generated jointly by cinema and music. A review of previous literature indicates the relevance as an object of study of video games that are used as …

Winning Economically: A Statistical Analysis Of Payroll Allocation Within Major League Baseball, Ryan St.Clair

Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes payroll trends within Major League Baseball (MLB) across the last ten seasons (2015-2024). By examining spending habits across teams, several strategies have been identified, bucketing teams into profiles that allow for easier comparison and insight into optimizing roster construction.

Team success is measured through two statistics: Winning Percentage and Wins Above Replacement (WAR). Winning Percentage determines which teams succeeded each year, while WAR adds color to each team's record. WAR measures a player's value holistically. Essentially, it shows how many more wins he provides compared to a replacement level player. A replacement level player is a minor …

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 …

Spiritual Minimalism: Analytical Studies Of Selected Piano Works By Pärt, Górecki, And Tavener, Boran Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines selected solo piano works by Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki, and John Tavener to explore how theological influences are reflected through their distinctive compositional languages. Current studies show that scholars primarily concentrate on their choral and orchestral repertoire, while their piano works have not received enough attention. This study argues that their solo piano works carry the same of theological influence found in their choral and orchestral compositions.

Through historical, analytical, and theological approaches, the dissertation explores how their compositional techniques convey spiritual meanings in selected solo piano pieces. Pärt’s Für Alina and Variations for the Healing of …

Challenges And Opportunities In Dry Aging: Producer Perspectives And Valorization Of Dry- Aged Waste Products, Peyton Scout Arnold

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the projected increase in the dry aging market, producers may be hesitant to incorporate dry aging practices. This thesis aims to identify primary concerns faced by producers in implementing a dry aging program. Semi-structured interview surveys were conducted via Qualtrics (N = 100). Results indicated that an “advanced” level of dry aging knowledge correlated with a higher importance in the use/sale of dry aged products (P = 0.02). Cost, demand, and sourcing were the top three concerns of producers practicing dry aging. Those considering implementation were concerned with cost, processing parameters, safety, demand, and sourcing. No significant differences were …

Identification Of Conditionally Essential Genes Required For Salmonella Enterica Serovar Typhimurium Adaptation To The Chicken Cecal Extract Through Ex Vivo Modeling And Transposon Insertion Sequencing, Deborah Bukola Olubanjo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) remains a major foodborne pathogen associated with chicken, where it can persist in the intestinal tract without overt disease and contribute to zoonotic transmission. The chicken cecum represents a complex ecological niche shaped by microbial competition, host-derived substrates, short-chain fatty acids, oxygen limitation, extracellular components, and diverse metabolic gradients. Although transposon insertion sequencing (Tn-seq) has been widely used to define bacterial fitness determinants, limited work has examined genome-wide adaptation of S. Typhimurium in chicken ceca-derived ex vivo systems that preserve key features of the avian cecal environment. This dissertation investigated conditionally essential genes required …

Uti, Delirium, And Dementia: A Conceptual Bioinformatics Framework For Clinical Attribution, Rob E. Carpenter, Andrew Krouse

Human Resource Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is frequently invoked to explain delirium, confusion, and functional decline in persons with dementia. Yet urine positivity in this population often reflects asymptomatic bacteriuria, colonization, chronic pyuria, contamination, or sampling noise rather than clinically attributable infection. For biomedical informatics and computational diagnostics readers, this narrative review contributes an integrative conceptual bioinformatics framework for probabilistic clinical attribution of suspected UTI in dementia under uncertainty. We formalizes the attribution problem by distinguishing organism detection from a clinically plausible infection-related contribution to neurocognitive decline. The framework integrates clinical, laboratory, biological, and longitudinal data to clarify whether urinary findings are …

Examining Clinical Educators’ Readiness For Artificial Intelligence In Medical Education: An Exploratory Qualitative Study, Tim Murphy, Ginger Vaughn, Rob E. Carpenter, Benjamin Mckinney, Rochell Mcwhorter

Human Resource Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Artificial intelligence (AI), treated in this study as an umbrella term for AI-enabled clinical and educational technologies rather than as a single platform, is reshaping medical education, including how diagnostic skills, treatment planning, and patient care are taught. This study examines AI integration in medical education through the perceptions and readiness of clinical educators. Guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, the study explores factors influencing AI adoption in medical training, including performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions. In this exploratory study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 clinical educators in the south-central …

From Learner To Leader: Exploring Principals' Perspectives On Professional Learning, Development, And Mentoring, Eric William Kausch

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of this qualitative study was to examine veteran secondary school principals’ engagement in professional learning, development, and mentoring for the improvement of their leadership skills. While previous literature provides insight into administrative preparation programs, mentoring of novice leaders, and succession planning for those advancing their careers, there are fewer studies that discuss enhancing experienced principals’ leadership development. The study was guided by three research questions: (1) How do principals describe their experiences participating in professional learning and development? (2) What types of leadership experiences do principals engage in to improve their leadership skills? and (3) How does engaging …

Univariate And Bivariate Binary Spatial Regression Models With Application To Plant Abundance Data, Amir Hamza Akash

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Analyzing species distributions is of prime interest in ecological research. Prevalence of a species usually depends on several environmental and topographic features not all of which can be quantified or measured. Spatial random effects play an important role as a surrogate for missing features that can explain similarity in species prevalence patterns between neighboring locations. In this thesis, we focus on a dataset on abundance of plants in the southern part of South Africa. First, we build a hierarchical Bayesian model for binary regression, using the probit link, on presence/ absence of a species based on available covariates. Since the …

Human-Ai Collaboration For Operations And Supply Chain Management Decision Making, Finnegan Mckinley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption continues to advance across supply chain management processes. A Gartner 2025 report shows that 84% of surveyed firms reported AI and machine learning investments for core supply chain tasks. However, both industry and academic literature highlight the importance of integrating AI and human judgment in decision making processes rather than fully automating with AI. The success of this integration depends heavily on the humans who use these AI tools. Therefore, this dissertation presents three essays that conceptually and empirical examine behavioral interactions between humans and AI in supply chain management decision making processes, primarily in the …

Life Without Privacy: The Fragmented Line Between The Private And Public Lives Of Enslaved Women In Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Justine Casey Costa

Theses and Dissertations

Enslaved women provided the foundation for life and freedom for most children living in 19^th century Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Despite patrão (master) mistreatment and abuse, enslaved women in Rio de Janeiro kept the bustling port city alive and growing. Enslaved women both produced labor and reproduced labor. The exploitation of enslaved women took place by patrões visibly in the streets, and abolitionists exploited their stories through the spread of printed material to garner support for their cause. This thesis examines the fragmented boundary between the public and private lives of enslaved women in 19^th century Rio. Utilizing …

Exploring The Impacts Of Design Choice On Stem Identity And Content Knowledge In A Community College Introductory Biology Classroom, Amanda Mayes

Theses and Dissertations

There is a growing need to address the projected shortage of STEM professionals, with estimates anticipating a gap of 1.1 million jobs by 2031. This workforce demand is further complicated by persistent attrition in higher education, with only about 40% of students completing their STEM degree. Addressing both workforce demands and student attrition requires higher education institutions to meet students where they are and adopt innovative instructional practices that foster persistence in STEM classrooms. This study conducted a convergent mixed method, quasi-experimental design to investigate the impact of an I-STEAM design-based approach on content knowledge and STEM identity in an …

Eeg P300 Ai Classification And Accessibility Keyboard Control Using Openbci’S Ultracortex Mark Iv For Reactive Brain-Computer Interaction, Grant King

Theses and Dissertations

Brain-computer interfaces provide people who cannot feasibly control a keyboard and mouse with an alternative method to type, to move a cursor, or to generally issue commands and make selections. A non-invasive recording modality for brain-computer interfaces is electroencephalography, or EEG. The OpenBCI Ultracortex Mark IV is an EEG headset enabling relatively low-cost EEG acquisition using wet or dry electrodes. P300 is an event-related potential involving a deflection in an EEG channel's voltage typically 300 milliseconds after the onset of an "oddball" stimulus. A person's P300 response can be used to control a selector application. This study investigates classification of …

Investigating The Factors Impacting Consumer Intentions To Purchase Energy-Efficient Appliances, Yusra Memon, Raheela Haque

Business Review

Energy-efficient appliances protect the environment through reduced energy usage, lowering pollution, and preserving natural resources. Hence, this research is aimed to examine the factors influencing Pakistani consumers' intentions to purchase energy-efficient appliances. This research adopts a quantitative approach and purposive sampling technique, and the data was collected from 350 respondents belonging to major metropolitan cities of Pakistan i.e. Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Islamabad, while SPSS and AMOS were used for data analysis. The study supports a number of important relations suggested by the Value–Belief–Norm (VBN) theory in the framework of buying energy-efficient appliances (EEAs) in Pakistan. Biospheric values (BV) significantly forecast …

Escape Room Vs. Classroom: A Comparative Study On Meaningful Learning And Knowledge Retention, Michael Defrancisco, Amanda Bennett, Victoria English

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

Purpose: To compare escape room learning and standard education platforms (didactic) instruction on nurses’ confidence, knowledge retention, and perceived meaningfulness.

Aerocom: Summer 2026, John D. Odegard School Of Aerospace Sciences

Aerocom: John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences Alumni Magazine

No abstract provided.

Monitoring And Short-Term Forecasting Of Atmospheric Air Pollutants Using Deep Neural Networks, Prasanjit Dey

Dissertations

Accurate forecasting of near-surface atmospheric air pollutants such as PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, and O3 remains a critical scientific and societal challenge. This difficulty arises from several factors, including nonlinear pollutant dynamics, sparse ground monitoring net works, heterogeneous satellite observations, and strong cross-pollutant interdependencies. Substantial advances have been achieved in temporal deep learning, probabilistic modeling, satellite-based estimation, physics-informed methods, and foundation models. However, these paradigms have largely evolved in isolation. As a result, existing systems are often station-dependent or pollutant-specific and optimized for a single forecasting task. This limits their robustness and generalizability across regions and heterogeneous data regimes.

This …

Improved Pbs Algorithm For Multi-Agent Path Planning Based On Conflict Guidance And Punishment Mechanism, Jinbao Zhang, Jianlin Mao, Chengze Qian, Guimi Sun, Kaixin Tong

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To address the bottleneck in which the priority-based search (priority-based search, PBS) algorithm for multi-agent path planning easily falls into conflict loops and generates invalid node expansions in complex scenarios, an improved algorithm based on conflict guidance and a punishment mechanism (improved PBS multi-agent path finding algorithm based on conflict guidance and punishment mechanism, CGP-PBS) was proposed. A conflict-guided node expansion mechanism was constructed; in high-level search, it comprehensively evaluated path cost and the number of conflicts, preferentially expanded child nodes with high potential for conflict resolution, and delayed the expansion of high-conflict nodes, thereby effectively compressing the search …

Nitrogen Use Efficiency Of Rice Expressing Arabidopsis Thaliana Dreb1a Gene, Yanis Anetha Vasquez Valdes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rice is a globally consumed crop and feeds more than half of the world’s population. Nitrogen (N) fertilization is required for increasing rice crop production and yield, but producers often overuse N fertilizers, exceeding plant uptake capacity. Around 40% of the applied N is lost through volatilization and denitrification to the environment, causing algal bloom formation, greenhouse gas emissions, and water pollution. Therefore, improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in rice has become a principal objective to achieve sustainable agriculture. NUE is a complex trait in rice that coordinates three processes: nitrogen uptake, transport and assimilation, which together support photosynthesis, biomass …

Evaluation Of Thresholds For Adult Tarnished Plant Bug, Lygus Lineolaris (Beauvois), In Thryvon® Cotton, William Anderson Fletcher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tarnished plant bug (TPB) is the most economically damaging insect pest of Mid-South cotton. TPB reduces yield is reduced by damaging squares, terminal growth, and small bolls, resulting in reduced yield. Currently, cotton grown in the Mid-South averages 1-6 insecticide applications per year for control of TPB. The introduction of ThryvOn® cotton technology provides a new management strategy for TPB control. ThryvOn® technology produces the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein Mpp51Aa2, which has insecticidal activity on TPB. A field study was conducted at five locations in 2024 and seven locations in 2025 across the Mid-South to evaluate different threshold levels for …