Digital Commons Network^™

Moving Forward: Teachers Managing Challenges And Change, Victoria A. Oglan, Lauren Gehr

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

Teaching requires adapting to ongoing changes in pedagogy and technology, a reality intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. This article situates pandemic-era instructional shifts within a broader history of educational change and reviews contemporary professional texts addressing technology integration, artificial intelligence, literacy instruction, teacher clarity, and deep learning.

Middle School Magic: Building Belonging And Brain-Aligned Classrooms, Christopher S. Culver, Katie Kinder

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

Middle school represents a critical developmental period when belonging, identity, and emotional regulation converge to shape academic and social outcomes. This article explores how belonging and brain-aligned kindness transform classroom culture through connection, collaboration, compassion, and the Science of Kindness. Drawing from recent neuroscience, educational psychology, and classroom practice, the authors demonstrate how these principles activate neural pathways of safety, motivation, and empathy that enhance learning and well- being. Integrating research with actionable classroom strategies, this article illustrates how small, consistent acts of care, such as greeting students by name, fostering collaborative learning, building relationships in trust, and practicing restorative …

Mental Health And Neurodiversity In Middle Grades Literature: Sharing Stories Of Anxiety, Identity, And Resilience For Today’S Adolescents, Brooke B. Eisenbach

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

Literature offers a powerful entry point for classroom conversation and engagement around mental health and neurodiversity. Stories invite students to challenge stereotypes and deepen their understanding through exploration of character, conflict, and voice, rather than through lecture or the expectation of personal self-disclosure. This article examines five contemporary novels exploring topics of mental health and neurological diversity that teachers can utilize to integrate mental health and social-emotional learning in the classroom. Through authentic voices and relatable narratives, these stories provide educators, parents, and teens with meaningful insights into the realities of navigating challenges while emphasizing resilience, self-worth, and the power …

Freedom On The Sea: The True Story Of The Civil War Hero Robert Smalls And His Daring Escape To Freedom, William Bintz P

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

Book Review

Villain Or Victor, Part Ii: Embodied Advocacy In A Time Of Democratic Turmoil, Kenesha Johnson, Theodore W. Anderson

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

This paper examines how middle level educators embody advocacy through movement, care, rest, and recreation as acts of democratic engagement. Extending Part I of Villain or Victor, it positions advocacy as a lived, physical, and relational practice grounded in wellness and cultural responsiveness. Through embodied pedagogy, healing-centered approaches, and intentional recreation, educators help young adolescents experience democracy through motion, connection, and collective courage. The paper links theory to practical strategies that build sanctuaries of belonging, support student voice, and nurture civic leadership in the middle grades.

Press Play! Integrating Gamified Tools Into Web- Based Formative Social Studies Assessments, Victoria L. Pierce

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

In an increasingly technology-dependent world, middle school students are emergent experts in technology use although novices in content knowledge. Middle school social studies teachers have dual issues of relevance and rigor to balance in their instruction with students at this developmental level. To strengthen students’ historical reasoning skills, middle school social studies teachers can implement gamified learning in a variety of ways to make use of technology skills and interests of students while also meeting content standards. This research models integration of gamified assessment into a virtual learning environment featuring educational games from organizations such as iCivics and Next Gen …

Understanding Distracted Minds: A Review Of Stolen Focus, Tammy J. Burnham Dr.

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

This review examines Hari's Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again, an exploration of society's lack of sustained attention in an increasingly digital world. Hari's investigation of technology's impact on cognitive abilities provides meaningful insights for those in the educational field, where educators must guide young people through social media environments. Hari argues that systemic forces are disabling attention spans, and he evaluates practical solutions for educators and parents. Stolen Focus is an important resource for educators committed to supporting students' cognitive development and mental well-being.

Front Matter

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

No abstract provided.

Scamle Journal 2026 Full Volume

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

No abstract provided.

Airway Management In Thoracic Anesthesia: Eactaic Consensus Document, Manuel Granell, Caroline Vanpeteghem, Jo Mourisse, Mert Senturk, Laszlo Szegedi, Mohamed El Tahan, Chirojit Mukherjee, Izumi Kawagoe, Waheed Karzai, Marcus Lance

Anaesthesiology, East Africa

This article is the third in a series of articles prepared as part of a comprehensive, international and professional society–approved consensus project to advise on thoracic anesthesia. It represents the views and structured opinions of experts delegated to the Airway Management Task Force of the Thoracic Subcommittee of the European Association of Cardiothoracic Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (EACTAIC). This review highlights the main concepts and expert opinion of international leaders on the task of lung isolation and separation, as well as the current recommendations on the benefits and disadvantages of different devices in both routine and difficult airway scenarios. The …

Monitoring In Thoracic Anesthesia: Eactaic Consensus Document, Mohamed El Tahan, Edda Tschernko, Tamás Végh, Jo Mourisse, Mert Sentürk, Katarina Lenartova, Maria Alberici, Thomas Wasserscheid, Nandor Marczin, Marcus Lance

Anaesthesiology, East Africa

This is the first part of a series of articles prepared for a comprehensive, international, and professional society–approved consensus project to advise on thoracic anesthesia. It represents the views and structured opinions of experts delegated to the General Management: Monitoring Task Force of the Thoracic Subcommittee of the European Association of Cardiothoracic Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (EACTAIC). This review highlights international leaders’ main concepts and expert opinions on how monitoring is the core task of anesthesiologists involved in the care of thoracic patients, providing recommendations for assessing principal organ systems and using different devices in routine and specialized scenarios. The …

Feedback In Digital Game-Based Learning: A Taxonomy And The Design And Empirical Evaluation Of A Feedback System In A Mathematics Serious Game, André Almo

Dissertations

Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) is an active, student-centred pedagogical approach in which feedback plays a central role by informing learners’ actions, guiding decision-making and shaping motivation and engagement. Despite its importance, feedback in serious games is often described inconsistently and insufficiently in research, limiting comparability across studies and the accumulation of design knowledge, particularly for children. This thesis addresses these gaps through two complementary contributions: the development of a taxonomy for feedback design in digital serious games and the empirical evaluation of a taxonomy-informed feedback system in a mathematics game for primary school students. First, this work introduces the Taxonomy …

Key Predictors Of Postpartum Depression And Anxiety Symptoms Among Mothers In Kilifi, Kenya: A Machine Learning Approach, Faith Benson, Rachel Odhiambo, Willie Brink, Anthony Ngugi, Akbar Waljee, Eileen Weinheimer-Haus, Cheryl Moyer, Ji Zhu, Amina Abubakar

Institute for Human Development, East Africa

Background:

The burden of maternal postpartum depression and anxiety is disproportionately high in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), yet the use of advanced analytical methods to capture the complex interplay of variables influencing these conditions remains underexplored.

Objective:

To apply machine learning (ML) methods to predict depressive and anxiety symptoms in postpartum mothers and to identify key and actionable predictors.

Methods:

This cross-sectional study included 1,995 biological mothers of singleton infants aged 0–6 months, using survey data collected between March 2023 and March 2024 in Kaloleni and Rabai sub-counties, Kilifi County, Kenya, within the Kaloleni–Rabai Health and Demographic Surveillance …

Performing Legality: When And Why Chinese Government Leaders Show Up In Court, Rachel E. Stern, Jieun Kim, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

Since 2015, Chinese government leaders have been required by law to appear in court when citizens sue their unit or to designate an employee to take their place. We frame this policy as a demand on leaders to “perform legality,” sacrificing their time to demonstrate how seriously the government takes legal proceedings. Drawing on an original dataset of 127,529 administrative lawsuits decided between 2015 and 2018, we investigate how often government leaders appear in Chinese courtrooms, and for which kinds of cases. Overall, leaders attended 24.72% of hearings. Contrary to the State Council’s instructions to prioritize attendance in lawsuits that …

Building Youth Resilience Through Adventure-Based Learning, Lisa M. Schainker, Abby Julian, Caitlyn Rogers

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

To build resilience skills among Salt Lake County youth, Utah State University (USU) Extension - Salt Lake County partnered with the Utah National Guard to host a daylong camp at Camp Williams called Resilience Education Adventures for Life (REAL) Day. REAL Day included both experiential classroom learning and outdoor activities, such as positive risk-taking activities like rappelling and obstacle courses. Survey results from 84 youth participants (n = 84) showed increases in self-reported skills and attitudes related to resilience, including confidence, a growth mindset, and stress management.

Time, Vastness, And Belonging: Outcomes From A Teen Dark-Sky Curriculum Pilot In Colorado, Troy Allan, Sadie Wilde, Anna Gilliam, Aaron Watson

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

This article reports on a program evaluation of Skyward – Part One, a Utah State University Extension curriculum that promotes adolescent mental well-being through immersive, awe-based dark-sky experiences. Findings indicate the program effectively supported emotional regulation and perspective-taking, demonstrating strong potential for replication of awe-based youth mental-health programming across non-formal educational settings.

Farmers Markets As Community Infrastructure: Evidence From A Three-Year Statewide Data Project In Utah, Jaclyn Pace, Roslynn Mccann, Blue Cook, Steven Price, Lorali Smith, Dianna Parkynn, Joshua Cafferty

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

Utah farmers markets play a critical role in food access, small business viability, and community connection, yet limited statewide data document their impact. The Utah Farmers Market Network (UFMN) and Utah State University (USU) Extension conducted a mixed-methods evaluation (2023–2025) and found that farmers markets make valuable contributions to the community.

Results From Jail-Based Substance Use Treatment In Tooele County, Matthew Huntington, Shianne Anderson

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

This article describes the development and outcomes of a jail-based substance use treatment program in Tooele County, Utah. The program addresses the elevated overdose risk among individuals leaving incarceration through education, peer support, and coordinated reentry planning. Program outcomes include reduced recidivism and improved connection to recovery supports.

Speaking Merit: English Fluency, Class, And Perceived Ability In India, Arianna Steadman, Aakanksh Vaidya

Research Papers and Posters from ASCL 60.20: Languages and Scripts of Gender, Class, and Nation

This paper explores how English fluency in India is often linked to perceptions of intelligence, competence and social status. Through four interviews with Dartmouth students from India and analysis of the films Hindi Medium and English Vinglish we found English can shape schooling access, confidence, respect, and opportunity, whilst also reflecting inequalities in class, privilege, and prior educational exposure. Our findings suggest that the high value placed on English can reinforce unfair social hierarchies by making unequal access appear like individual merit.

What's In A Name? Examining The Adoption Of English Names By East Asian Immigrants, Claire Chang, Emmanuel Olasoju

Research Papers and Posters from ASCL 60.20: Languages and Scripts of Gender, Class, and Nation

This paper investigates English name adoption by East Asian immigrants. Through the exploration of linguistic and cultural motivations behind English name choice (or lack thereof), we analyze how this practice relates to language, identity, and society, and how this phenomenon reflects broader issues of assimilation, globalization, and cross-cultural communication. The results gathered refute the common claim that English name adoption represents denial or loss of cultural identity; rather it primarily functions as a pragmatic tool for navigating multilingual and multicultural environments.

Learning Gendered Speech: How Media Exposure Shapes American Learners’ Perceptions Of Japanese Pronouns, Emma Bell, David Raymond

Research Papers and Posters from ASCL 60.20: Languages and Scripts of Gender, Class, and Nation

Language choices play an integral part in an individual’s identity, especially in how they are perceived by others. Further, the context under which an individual learns a language has a major influence on their language choices. This influence is particularly significant in Japanese: a language that is often described as having clearly defined “masculine” and “feminine” speech styles. The following research is a study on how beginner Japanese language learners’ pedagogical and environmental backgrounds affect their perception of gendered pronouns. An online survey was conducted to compare perceptions of the appropriateness of various pronouns across gendered contexts between beginner learners …

Native Chinese Speakers’ Perspective On Foreign Speakers Of Their Language, Veronika Šímová, Jack Inglis

Research Papers and Posters from ASCL 60.20: Languages and Scripts of Gender, Class, and Nation

As previous research suggests, native speakers of Chinese may hold unfair perceptions of non-native learners of their language. This might lead to a belief among Chinese native speakers that non-Asians cannot speak Chinese fluently or at a native level. This is a potentially harmful assumption that has implications affecting new learners, experienced learners, and future learners. Existing research on the topic has shown that ethnically Chinese L2 speakers of Mandarin are often perceived more positively than non-Asian L2 speakers. Other scholars have shown the perceived relationships between looking Chinese and speaking Chinese, as well as assumptions that Asians should speak …

Same Film, Different Story: Cross-Cultural Adaptation Of Movie Titles In Thai And Cantonese Markets, Krittin Hirunchupong, Yi Gao

Research Papers and Posters from ASCL 60.20: Languages and Scripts of Gender, Class, and Nation

Movie title translations play a significant role in cross-cultural marketing and interpersonal communication among audiences. Due to cultural differences and naming conventions, English titles are often adapted creatively in Asian contexts for informative, aesthetic and commercial purposes. Diverse translation strategies share organic relations with Glocalization trends, indicating the degree of cultural openness in international discourse. This study combines media analysis that investigates translation strategy trends in top rated films in Thailand and Hong Kong with survey data on bilingual audiences’ interaction with title backtranslations. Both quantitative and qualitative data reflect that Thai and Cantonese film titles shape audience expectations and …

Understanding Naming Conventions And Typography For Chinese Restaurants In America, David Jiang, Andrew Burr

Research Papers and Posters from ASCL 60.20: Languages and Scripts of Gender, Class, and Nation

In terms of culture and identity, there are few things more significant than food. For those who aren't natives of a culture, restaurants and the dining industry are key avenues that open up a part of the world to many different individuals. However, the decisions surrounding the visual and naming aesthetics are what clients of these restaurants see, often made to appease Western/American perceptions of a certain culture. In this paper, we examine the naming conventions and typography of Chinese restaurants in America, with a focus on the Upper Valley region. This paper will examine whether these designs and naming …

Gpu Embedded Machine Learning Solar Pv Forecasting (Paper), Hamza Tasneem

Honors Capstone Projects

Author ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1665-3966

Paper DOI: https://doi.org/10.62812/DHND6486

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) generation is intermittent and variable in nature, which can threaten the stability and economic efficiency of the power grid. Accurate and precise forecasts could help to mitigate intermittency issues by helping the grid in the allocation of generation resources at times when solar irradiance is low. This paper presents a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) approach to accurately predict solar irradiance forecast for Brookings, SD area using Clear-Sky Irradiance (CSI) data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), utilizing a sliding-window algorithm and other data processing algorithms. The CNN was trained on …

Guns For Hire, States In Ruin: An International Regulatory Framework To Combat The Exploitation Of Weak States By Private Military Companies, Joshua Hiero

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

Sacbe 1 And Classic Maya Urban Culture, Traci Ardren, Scott R. Hutson, Travis W. Stanton, Patrick Rohrer, Justin P. Lowry

Anthropology Faculty Publications

One of the most significant engineering accomplishments of Maya civilization is Sacbe 1, a raised road connecting the ancient urban centers of Yaxuna and Coba. Using new lidar data in concert with excavation, epigraphic inscriptions, and landscape reconnaissance, we show that settlement and an urban experience emanated westward from Coba along the sacbe. The leaders of Coba - in particular, an ambitious seventh-century queen - used the sacbe to expand the political and cultural influence of their dynasty into the center of the peninsula while securing territory and resources. Gaps in the sacbe, precise delineation of its many curves, and …

The Law Of For Cause Removal, Jane Manners, Lev Menand

Faculty Scholarship

For the first time in American history, the Supreme Court is poised to decide what it means for the president to remove a principal officer “for cause.” The case — which arises from the attempted removal of Lisa Cook, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System — has major implications for central bank independence in the United States and, more broadly, for the U.S. administrative state. But given how long it has been since such offices were formally contested, courts and commentators have forgotten many aspects of the legal tradition governing “for cause” removal. In …

Sustainable Pathways For Fish Waste Oil Valorization Into Biofuel: Process Synthesis And Case Study, Hany A. Elazab, Radhi H. Alazmi, Abdelrahman El-Bagalaty, Hossam Tammam, Mahmoud El-Sayed, Mohamed Omar, Fathi Shokry, Mamdouh A. Gadalla, Fatma H. Ashour, Thokozani Majozi

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Biodiesel is a promising, sustainable alternative to fossil fuels such as petrol and diesel. Currently, biodiesel can be produced from edible plant oils and non-edible sources and wastes. Notably, fish waste oil is a sustainable resource for transesterification reactions to produce biodiesel. This research proposes a general process design methodology to investigate the potential of biodiesel production from fish waste oil as a pathway for waste-to-energy. The methodology integrates Pinch Analysis principles and process simulation to optimize the energy efficiency of a process design. Real data are collected on fish waste from fish industries in Egypt, focusing on three regions …

The Role Of Top-Down Appetite Self-Regulation In The Development Of Healthy Eating Behaviors Among Children: A Narrative Review And Socialization Framework, David J Bridgett, Sheryl O Hughes, Matthew Broussard, Daniela Mccourt, Christina M Croce, Jennifer O Fisher

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Appetite self-regulation (ASR) among children is thought to have a fundamental role in shaping the development of healthy eating behaviors, dietary intake, and growth during childhood. Parallel to developmental frameworks for understanding "general" self-regulation among children, ASR has been described as involving children's use of "top-down" cognitive processes to moderate "bottom-up" biological drives around food approach and avoidance in the interest of achieving desired eating behaviors or outcomes. Whereas bottom-up ASR processes during early childhood are well characterized, particularly in the context of dysregulation and obesity risk, the role of top-down ASR processes in the development of healthy eating behaviors …