Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating The Structural And Functional Roles Of Transcriptionally Active Rice Transposons, Eimaan Admad

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Transposable elements (TEs) are crucial contributors to genome dynamics, evolution, gene structure, and regulation of gene expression. Once considered "junk DNA," TEs are now recognized for their significant roles in genome function and organization. TEs are epigenetically regulated through chromatin modifications, genomic imprinting, and the production of small RNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which in turn can influence gene expression. Despite a wealth of data from sequencing projects advancing TE research, their large size—often exceeding the read lengths of many sequencing platforms—has limited comprehensive analysis. Moreover, the high copy number and sequence similarity (often >80%) within TE families can …

Environmental Exposure And Neighborhood Change: A Longitudinal Study Of Little Haiti, Miami, Joshua Dumond

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Urban development trends in coastal cities are increasingly impacted by environmental characteristics like elevation. As individuals and businesses residing near the coast move inland to escape rising sea levels, climate-resilient communities may begin to experience increased housing market trends and real estate investment. This longitudinal, retrospective study investigates how elevation influences the housing market in higher-ground communities, with a focus on the Little Haiti neighborhood in Miami, Florida, while also describing changes in demographic characteristics over time. Census tracts within Little Haiti were used as the unit of analysis for this study while using the U.S. Geological Survey Data to …

Evaluating Item Discrimination And Gender-Based Differential Item Functioning In Safe Sex Behavior Questionnaire (Ssbq), Prarthana Harikrishnan, Xinlei Zhang, Hannah Scheffer

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Risky sexual behavior can increase rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), posing a danger to the health of young adults. The Safe Sex Behavior Questionnaire (SSBQ; Dilorio et al., 1992) is a widely used measure to assess risky sexual behaviors among young adults. However, few studies have evaluated the psychometric properties of the SSBQ, such as how well the survey items discriminate between individuals who engage in safer versus riskier sexual behaviors (discrimination), and whether the items function equivalently for men versus women (differential item functioning). In the current study, we applied psychometric modeling to a dataset of 1,094 young …

Ketone Bodies As Regulators Of Cardiac Energy Metabolism And Cardiovascular Signaling, Eera Mehrota, Anika Singh, Meghana Divi, Cynthia Chamoun, Samiksha Chemukula

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The heart has a high and continuous energy demand and depends on metabolic flexibility to maintain function under both physiological and pathological conditions. Ketone bodies, particularly β-hydroxybutyrate, have emerged as important alternative fuels for the myocardium and as biologically active signaling molecules. This review examines how ketone bodies support cardiac energy metabolism and regulate vascular and myocardial biology through intracellular signaling pathways. A narrative synthesis of peer-reviewed literature was conducted, focusing on ketone utilization in healthy and diseased hearts, metabolic remodeling in heart failure, and the non-energetic signaling roles of ketone bodies in cardiovascular tissues. Evidence indicates that ketone bodies …

Synthesis Of Copper-Phenanthroline Complexes: A Solvothermal-Compatible Approach For The Exploration Of Metal Complexes, Yunping Zhoujin, Michael Anim Safo, Navindra Keerthisinghe, Mark D. Smith, Sophya Garashchuk, Hans Conrad Zur Loye

Faculty Publications

Inorganic–organic hybrid materials have been widely investigated for their applications in catalysis, optics, magnetism, and biomedicine. Copper halide complexes are of particular interest due to their structural diversity and physicochemical properties. Conventional crystal growth approaches, such as slow evaporation and hydro(solvo)thermal synthesis, typically require extended reaction times and often favor thermodynamically stable phases. In this study, we prepared ten copper-phenanthroline halide (X = Cl, Br, and I) complexes using both traditional hydrothermal reactions and microwave-assisted hydrothermal methods and obtained [CuI(C₁₂H₈N₂)₂][I₃], [C₁₂H₉N₂][CuI₂]·(H_{2 …}

Physiological Correlates Of Health-Related Anxiety - An Investigation Between Heart Rate Variability (Hrv) And Blood Pressure Reactivity In Clinical Settings, Alvaro Villarreal, Sarah Headapohl, Chase Parks, Melanie Gonzalez, Sage Olsson, Mounyjwok Odhong

SPARK Symposium Presentations

White coat syndrome – also known as white coat hypertension –  consists in a sharp increase in blood pressure as a result of increased underlying anxiety (Mancia et al. 1677) in clinical and health settings. White coat syndrome has had conflicting results surrounding it, with early research suggesting it requires no serious clinical attention or diagnosis, while more recent research suggests the contrary, that white coat syndrome is clinically problematic and associated with increased cardiovascular risk, metabolic abnormalities, cardiovascular fatalities, and asymptomatic organ damage. This study aims to fill a gap in literature by investigating the impact of induced white …

“Loophole Of The Century”: Routine Use And The Privacy Act Of 1974, Joslynn Jensen

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

This Note examines structural weaknesses in the Privacy Act of 1974 and argues that the statute no longer provides meaningful safeguards for personal information held by federal agencies. Enacted in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, the Act was designed to ensure transparency, accountability, and individual control over government recordkeeping systems. However, two core features—the routine-use exception and the Act’s narrow remedial structure—have undermined these protections. The routine-use provision permits agencies to disclose personal records without individualized consent so long as the disclosure is deemed “compatible” with the purpose of collection and published in the Federal Register, a form of …

Good Faith And The Ministerial Exception, Kailey Hopkins, Nathan Gurr

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, lower courts, in attempting to adhere to the ruling, have largely disregarded the Court’s explicit instruction to avoid adopting a “rigid formula” for determining ministerial status. Instead, they have repeatedly relied on the factors identified in that decision as a functional test. When the Court revisited the ministerial exception, it reaffirmed that no definitive legal standard governs the designation of a “minister,” while modestly broadening the doctrine by emphasizing that formal titles are less significant than functional considerations. This Comment argues that the lower courts’ …

Lego®-Based Cubesats For Space Outreach, Stefan Brandle, Joshua Brown, Evan Smith, Drew Nye, Sydney Reddy, Twidy Kwae, Kaiya Grzesiak, Matthew Roderer, John Hetz

Faculty-Led Student Projects in CSE

Taylor University Computer Science and Engineering, in collaboration with NearSpace Education, has initiated a multi-year effort to enhance space-awareness by offering K-12 students career-impacting opportunities to build and fly satellites that have a LEGO®-robotics-based payload. This effort is intended as an outreach in the spirit of the ThinSat project (2017-2021) supported by Virginia Space, Twiggs Space Lab, Orbital ATK, NearSpace Launch, and the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, among others. We hope to receive permission to name the satellite LEGO-SAT-0.

Generative Adversarial Discrimination, Josh Fairfield

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Anti-discrimination law assumes that discrimination can be detected and rectified, that the evidentiary burden of the plaintiff can in fact be met. But the evolutionary logic of AI training causes it to target vulnerable groups, lie about reasoning, and above all resist detection. Because of hidden core prompts in generative AI systems, and how those prompts interact with the nature of AI training and deployment, AI will often actively hide discrimination rather than surface and address it. Stopping this will be difficult. At present, neither humans or AI can detect this emergent dark-pattern behavior. Without legal intervention, the broad use …

Deep Learning Frameworks For Biological Data Integration And Generation, Alexa Beachum

Statistical Science Theses and Dissertations

Data integration represents a key area of research for analyzing the rapidly growing volume of high-dimensional biological data across sources, stages, and modalities. To model and understand these complex, often non-linear relationships, deep learning has become an increasingly powerful tool. Here, we present two novel deep learning frameworks that address distinct but complementary integration challenges. The first framework aligns single-cell omics data across temporal stages, and the second bridges imaging and omics modalities to generate patient-level molecular profiles.

In Chapter 1, we briefly summarize existing approaches---both statistical and deep learning-based---for single-cell omics data integration and discuss their limitations for handling …

Essays On Family Economics, Culture, Inequality, And Growth, Rouzhi Liang

Economics Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of essays on how family resource allocation and cultural values shape innovation, inequality, and long-run economic development. Across the chapters, I combine quantitative modeling and empirical analysis to understand the determinants of inequality and long-run growth.

Chapter 1 studies how parental fertility and bequest decisions affect children’s potential to become entrepreneurs when financial barriers exist. Motivated by evidence that high-income parents tend to have fewer children and leave larger bequests and allocate more resources per child, I develop an overlapping-generations model with endogenous fertility, bequests, and occupational choice, calibrated to U.S. data. The model shows that, when …

Cooperative Unmanned Aerial System (Uas) Geolocation Of Emitters, Christopher Peters

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

A collection of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can be networked as a cooperative wireless sensor array to geolocate an unknown-location RF emitter using time-based measurements. In operation, however, environmental multipath and hardware errors in sensor positioning and timing can degrade emitter localization accuracy and limit the practicality of single-snapshot solutions. This dissertation evaluates time-of-arrival and time-difference-of-arrival (TOA/TDOA) geolocation for cooperative UAS arrays under realistic error sources and develops geometry-control strategies that actively reduce localization uncertainty through iterative UAS repositioning.

This work studies the Location on a Conic Axis (LOCA) method for emitter localization. Using Monte Carlo simulations with hardware error …

Water Current, Volume 58, No. 1, Spring 2026

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Seal!Nd: School Year 2024-2025, Shawnda Schroeder, Rashid Ahmad

Indigenous Health Faculty Publications

Dr. Schroeder and Rashid worked with the team at the Oral Health Program to collect data on the clinical reach of the School-based Sealant program (SEAL!ND), the referral practices, dental sealant cost savings, and perceptions of school personnel regarding their experiences with the program. SEAL!ND continues to make a measurable difference in improving children’s oral health by increasing access to preventive care, reducing barriers for families, and supporting schools in meeting the needs of their students. The program’s impact is reflected not only in the thousands of services provided each year, but also in the strong satisfaction and gratitude expressed …

Piercing The Algorithmic Fog Of War: Ai-Enabled Decision-Support Systems And The Responsibility Gap For War Crimes Under The Rome Statute, Karen H. Cho

UC Law SF International Law Review

This article examines how the integration of artificial intelligence-enabled decision-support systems (AI-DSS) into military conflict complicates the attribution of individual criminal responsibility for war crimes under the Rome Statute. Unlike lethal autonomous weapons systems which are intended to supplant human agency, AI-DSS augments human decision-making across the targeting cycle while simultaneously introducing opacity and bias. These characteristics risk facilitating indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, undermining t4he principles of distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law. Through a case study of Israel’s deployment of systems such as “the Gospel,” “Lavender,” and “Where’s Daddy?” in Gaza, this article illustrates how algorithmic mediation obscures …

Coastal Flooding And Community Resilience: Evaluating Management Strategies For Pawleys Island, Lindsey Degrendel

Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

No abstract provided.

Une Com Spring Research Bulletin May 2026, Une Com Research & Scholarship

Osteopathic Student Research Symposia

Bulletin including abstracts from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine’s 2026 inaugural Spring Research Update and Lightning Talk event.

Next-Generation Democratic Cyber Statecraft - Balancing The Signal: Shutdown Shocks And Democratic Digital Governance, Scott M. Di Panni

School of Public Policy Capstones

This paper develops Next-Generation Democratic Cyber Statecraft (NG-DCS), a unified strategic doctrine for democratic governments to contest the cognitive domain against authoritarian adversaries. Drawing on twenty-six years of cross-national panel data (1999–2024) spanning 213 countries, game-theoretic modeling, and qualitative case analysis, the paper establishes three interconnected empirical and theoretical foundations. First, cross-national OLS regression across 160+ countries demonstrates that regime type is the dominant structural determinant of internet freedom (R²=0.615, β=2.513, p< 0.001), explaining more than twice the variance attributable to per-capita wealth (R²=0.268). Democratic governance, not economic development, produces open digital environments. Second, a two-way fixed effects (TWFE) difference-in-differences study exploiting government-ordered internet shutdowns as discrete policy interventions finds that digital restrictions causally degrade V-Dem governance quality by 0.21–0.38 standard deviations (p< 0.001 across all specifications). Treatment effects are immediate (β=−0.302 at k=0) and persist through five post-treatment years (β=−0.246 at k=+5), indicating structural rather than transitory governance damage. Parallel trends validation (p=0.352) and Callaway–Sant’Anna heterogeneity-robust estimation (ATT=−0.230, SE=0.077) support causal identification. Instrumental variable triangulation (2SLS β=−0.949, p=0.005) confirms that simultaneity was attenuating, not inflating, the primary estimates. Third, formal game-theoretic analysis reveals that the current U.S.–adversary equilibrium is (Restrain, Escalate)—the risk-dominant but Pareto-inferior outcome of a Stag Hunt structure. China, Russia, North Korea, and Venezuela each occupy structurally distinct positions (Stackelberg commitment, asymmetric two-level, autarky, and reactive trigger, respectively), requiring differentiated doctrinal responses rather than a uniform strategic playbook. Generative AI and algorithmic governance are shown to accelerate cognitive vulnerability by collapsing influence operation costs and exploiting engagement-optimized platform architectures that systematically degrade deliberative capacity in democratic populations.

Who Is A Champion Teacher? A Comparative Longitudinal Analysis Of Teacher Practices In Teacher Professional Development Programmes In East Africa, Jane Rarieya, Esther Kibga, Omari Abunga, Fredrick Mtenzi, Nyagwegwe Wwango

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

This comparative mixed-methods study defines and profiles the “champion teacher” by synthesising primary longitudinal and cross-sectional data from two complementary teacher professional development (TPD) initiatives implemented across East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda): the long-term, pre-service teacher-oriented Foundations for Learning (F4L) programme and the short-course, in‑service teacher Strengthening Education Systems East Africa (SESEA) programme. The champion teacher construct is operationalised through a Champion Teacher Index (CTI) comprising three integrated domains: head (cognitive pedagogical knowledge), hands (psychomotor instructional practice), and heart (affective, leadership, and gender-responsive dispositions). Quantitative analysis revealed statistically significant longitudinal differences between the programmes. F4L teachers demonstrated higher mean …

Developing Gender-Responsive Teaching Materials To Empower All Learners, Nyagwegwe Wango, Jane Rarieya

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

Inclusive and gender-responsive education is widely recognized as essential for equitable learning outcomes, yet limited empirical attention has been given to the role of teaching materials as practical instruments for advancing inclusion in foundational learning contexts. This paper examines how inclusive and gender-responsive teaching materials are developed, used, and sustained in early years and primary education, drawing on evidence from the Strengthening Education Systems East Africa (SESEA) project and the Foundations for Learning (F4L) longitudinal studies in East Africa. Using a qualitative synthesis of evaluation reports, classroom observations, and interviews, the study analyzes teachers’ understanding of inclusive materials, material adaptation …

Virtual Reality As Pedagogical Space: A Usability Study Of An Interactive Exhibition For Culturally-Based Design Education, Abdul Bashiru Yussif

MFA Theses Exhibitions Final Papers

View the Digital Exhibition of Virtual Reality as Pedagogical Space

This research presents an immersive, culturally grounded pedagogical framework that integrates Virtual Reality (VR) with experiential and project-based learning. Despite the potential of immersive technologies to enhance engagement, contemporary design curricula often exhibit a disconnect between theoretical instruction and embodied practice. This study addresses that gap by aligning virtual reality and emerging technology with design theories, culturally responsive pedagogies and localized knowledge systems.

Drawing upon David Kolb’s experiential learning cycle, the research validates active engagement and reflection into interactive, three-dimensional environments. The research also adopted two other frameworks in the …

The Offshore Origins Of Regulatory Arbitrage, Ian J. Murray

William & Mary Business Law Review

Especially since the 2007–08 financial crisis, commentators have seized on the term “regulatory arbitrage” to describe a sprawling range of strategic compliance behavior spanning diverse sectors of the contemporary economy. Despite the term’s prevalence, there is scant agreement on the scope of activities it describes. To some, it has become a catch-all for legal avoidance from time immemorial. Such an expansive understanding obscures the context that led the term to acquire salience and fosters a fatalist view that all regulation is futile. Resisting this trend, this Article answers calls to situate regulatory arbitrage in a richer socio-historical context. Tracing the …

The Hidden Tax Game, Doron Narotzki

William & Mary Business Law Review

Taxation is not just a legal duty; it is a game, and the best players always win. While governments rely on laws and penalties to enforce compliance, corporations, high-net-worth individuals, and elite tax strategists exploit loopholes, turning complexity into opportunity. This Article argues that tax avoidance is not a flaw in the system, but an expected outcome. Modern tax law does not just permit avoidance; it actively encourages it. The more intricate the rules, the more valuable it becomes to manipulate them.

Using game theory as an analytical lens, this Article reframes taxation as a high-stakes competition, where strategic players …

Inferring The Breakdown Scales Of The Chiral Expansions For GA And MN, Andreas Ekström, Daniel R. Phillips, Lucas Platter, Matthias Schindler

Faculty Publications

We apply Bayesian inference to the order-by-order chiral perturbation theory (χPT) expansions for the axial-vector coupling constant g_A and the nucleon mass m_N, and thereby infer the scales at which χPT breaks down for these two observables. Using a pointwise Bayesian analysis, we find that the inferred breakdown scales are notably different for the two observables. For the chiral expansion of g_A, we obtain 251⁺²⁰₋₅₀ MeV and 211⁺²⁰₋₃₀ MeV using two distinct sets of low-energy constants, while for the chiral expansion of m_N we infer a significantly …

Trade Liberalization Under Safta And Bimstec: Evidence From A Cge-Gtap Case Study Of A Small Open Economy, Gita Bhushal, Pankaj Lal

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Regional trade liberalization via preferential agreements increasingly shapes economic outcomes in small open economies embedded in overlapping regional frameworks. This study evaluates the short-run economy-wide effects of tariff and non-tariff measure (NTM) reforms under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model calibrated to the GTAP 10 database. Gravity-based estimates of ad valorem equivalents (AVEs) of NTMs are integrated into the CGE framework, enabling explicit modeling of regulatory barriers alongside tariff reductions. Policy simulations examine scenarios involving a 90 percent tariff …

Watch Me Watch: Reaction Videos As A Social Form Of Online Video Engagement, Rodney Okyere, Carlos Augusto Bautista Isaza, Jaehoon Pyon, Ihudiya Finda Ogbonnaya-Ogburu, Shuo Niu, Sang Wong Lee

Computer Science

Reaction videos (RVs) are surging in popularity, emerging as a distinctive facet of participatory culture on modern social video-sharing platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. This study aims to explore not only the motivations and engagement patterns of viewers towards RVs, but also the underlying nature of the virality and community-building phenomena that this sub-genre of video content fosters. We conducted 16 semi-structured interviews with individuals who identified as regular viewers of reaction videos to gain a deeper understanding of how they discover reaction videos (RQ1), the values that drive their motivations for viewing RVs (RQ2), and the ways …

Steric And Electronic Considerations Of Ester Hydrolysis: Updating A Longstanding Physical Organic Kinetics Experiment, Mara J. Aucoin

Chemistry Theses

A current, longstanding undergraduate physical chemistry kinetics experiment uses UV-Vis spectrophotometry to follow the hydrolysis of para-nitrophenyl acetate (NPA) with an imidazole (Im) catalyst. The catalyzed and uncatalyzed reaction paths can be studied simultaneously under pseudo first order conditions ([Im]>>>[NPA]). To obtain the rate constants for the catalyzed and uncatalyzed reactions, the concentration of imidazole is varied between reactions and then plotted against the observed rate constant (k_obs).This produces a linear line where the slope is equal to the rate constant of the catalyzed reaction (k_cat) and the intercept is equal to …

Targeting Oncogenes: Development And Characterization Of Aurka And Her2 Inhibitors, Itzel Montoya

Chemistry Theses

Targeted inhibition of oncogenes has remained a key strategy in the development of more potent, effective, and less toxic therapeutic anticancer agents. Among the most clinically significant signaling pathways are those mediated by the Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) and Aurora Kinase A (AurKA). HER2 is a member of the ErbB receptor family that supports cell growth and proliferation through downstream signaling of the PI3K and MAPK pathways and is closely linked to more aggressive tumors and therapeutic resistance. AurKA is a protein kinase essential for mitotic spindle assembly, centrosome maturation, and other key processes in cell cycle …

Efficacy Analysis In Clinical Trials: A Comprehensive Review Of Statistical And Machine Learning Approaches, Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, Samhita Pal

Faculty Articles

Efficacy testing is a cornerstone of clinical trials, ensuring that medical interventions achieve their intended therapeutic effects. Over the decades, a wide range of statistical methodologies have been developed to address the complexities of clinical trial data, including parametric, nonparametric, Bayesian, and machine learning approaches. Parametric methods, such as t-tests, ANOVA, and LMMs, have traditionally been the foundation of efficacy testing due to their efficiency under well-defined assumptions. Nonparametric techniques, including the Friedman test, Brunner-Munzel test, and modern extensions like nparLD, have emerged as robust alternatives, particularly for skewed, ordinal, or non-normal data. Bayesian methodologies have enabled the incorporation of …