Digital Commons Network^™

Smart Wearable Plasma Healing Patch With Adaptive Electronic Control And Integrated Biosensors, Zainab Hussam Al-Araji

Engineering and Technology Journal

Traditional healthcare for chronic wounds and Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) treatments relies on passive dressings and large-volume stationary equipment operating with open-loop systems, which severely limits their use and confines it to specialized clinical environments. To address the lack of active thermal safety mechanisms in mobile devices, this research proposes a wearable smart plasma patch equipped with a closed-loop adaptive electronic control system to ensure safe patient care and treatment at home. The smart patch integrates real-time analog biosensors to continuously monitor skin temperature and relative humidity. An algorithm running on a microcontroller dynamically adjusts the high-voltage plasma parameters using …

Spring 2026 Excellence In Research And Creative Inquiry And Incite Award Ceremony, Office Of Student Research, Longwood University

Spring Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

No abstract provided.

From Cowboys To Corner Crossers: Reviving The Unlawful Inclosures Act To Protect Public Land Access, Brittany Kjerstad Mcknight, Ryan Mcknight

Cleveland State Law Review

As disputes over public land access intensify, “corner crossing” (the act of stepping from one parcel of public land to another at a shared corner with private property) has ignited legal and political battles across the West. At stake is not just the meaning of trespass, but the public’s right to enjoy land it lawfully owns. This Article argues that corner crossing is lawful and should be recognized as such under existing property law principles. It situates the modern corner-crossing controversy within a broader historical and doctrinal framework, tracing its roots to the Unlawful Inclosures Act of 1885 and the …

A Harmonious Legal System: True Justice Through Modernized Platonic Marxism, Cian R. Batarla

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The Marxist theory of the law is underdeveloped compared to the rest of Marx and Engels works. This can be chalked up to legal systems merely being part of the superstructure, by which the ruling class use to maintain power. In this essay I push back on this notion that the rule of law can be dismissed, arguing that if Marx's true community is to be as such then the addition of a just legal system is not an issue. However, Marx's true community on its own is not enough to satisfy the inclusion of a legal system. Thus necessitating …

Maximizing Uinta Basin Oil Well Yield Through Geochemical Fingerprinting Of Produced Water, Troy W. Day

Theses and Dissertations

The Uinta Basin is an unconventional oil play that has, since 2017, annually increased hydrocarbon extraction through modern drilling and fracing techniques with increased frac loading. The primary production target is the Uteland Butte Member of the Green River Formation, which consists of interbedded limestones, dolostones, and thick, organic-rich mudstones. Along with increased hydrocarbon production, volumes of produced water from the Uteland Butte Member have also risen. Water is co-produced with hydrocarbons and is an undesirable byproduct of hydrocarbon extraction. Large frac operations now consistently have highly variable percentages of recovered water volume relative to oil. This increase in water …

Spring 2026 Student Showcase For Research & Creative Inquiry Program, Office Of Student Research, Longwood University

Spring Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

No abstract provided.

The Euler Characteristic, Cara Admiraal

SPARK Symposium Presentations

The Euler characteristic is an example of a topological invariant most famously Leonard Euler proved that for any convex polyhedron with $v$ vertices, $f$ faces, and $e$ edges, $v-e+f=2$. In this presentation, we will extend his ideas to define the Euler characteristic for surfaces.

The Student Movement Volume 110 Issue 22: Coloring Within The Finish Lines, Anna Rybachek, Addison Randall, Megan Constantine, Joey Carrion, Ysabella Neves, Kyle Simpson, Isa Demoraes, Matthew Henderson, Aiko J. Ayala Rios, Alyssa Caruthers, Maya Thomas

The Student Movement V. 110 (2025-2026)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Literary Summer: Refreshing Book Recommendations for Hot Weather, Anna Rybachek

AU Professors Charles Reid & Chi Yong Yun To Lead Joint Recital, Addison Randall

HUMANS

A Fond Farewell: Dean Amy Rosenthal's Next Chapter Begins, Megan Constantine

NEWS

Andrews University Student Movement: 2025-2026 News Highlight Reel, Joey Carrion

Scrambled Legs Host Colorful Campus Run, Ysabella Neves

Andrews Shares Artistry at Library Poetry Event, Kyle Simpson

Student's Tragedy Sparks Safety Initiative at Lake Chapin, Isa DeMoraes

IDEAS

The Complexity of Job Hunting: What Can We Do?, Matthew Henderson

Reading as an Act of Change, Aiko J. Ayala Rios

PULSE …

Robust And Interpretable Cross-Domain Arabic Readability Prediction Using Hybrid Modeling: Evidence On The Limitations Of Transformer-Based Classifiers, Sarah Alzu'bi

Theses and Dissertations

Automatic readability assessment aims to predict how difficult a text is for readers to understand. The concept of readability has been widely studied across languages due to its significant impact on reading comprehension, leading to the development of various methods and approaches. In this study, I addressed two key challenges in readability assessment. First, I examine the performance of statistical classifiers and transformer-based models, including CAMeLBERT(Inoue et al, 2021.) with a focus on their ability to generalize under domain, genre, and stylistic shifts. Second, I investigate the interpretability of transformer performance in readability task, which are often criticized for their …

Temperature-Induced Uncertainty In Fixed-Context Retrieval-Augmented Generation, Steven Zeng, Murat Kuzlu

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

This study examines how decoding temperature affects output uncertainty in a fixed-context retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) system. We define uncertainty as the semantic dispersion among repeated answers under the same fixed retrieved context, with greater dispersion interpreted as higher uncertainty. To isolate this answer-generation variability from retrieval drift, each question was paired with a fixed retrieved context, and repeated generations differed only in temperature. The experiment used nine questions drawn from a machine-learning textbook corpus, with three questions each at easy, moderate, and hard difficulty. Each question was evaluated at five temperatures (0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0) over 30 iterations, …

Massively Parallel Kalman Filtering: Scaling State Estimation Via Cuda Kernels, Joseph Campione, Peter Chim, Hannah Depuydt, William Johnston, Jackson Phillips, Brian White

Mathematics & Computer Science Student Scholarship

This project addresses the challenge of state estimation in real-world conditions by fusing data from multiple sensors using the Kalman Filter. To ensure numerical stability, we use the Joseph Form covariance update, which guarantees valid results but introduces significant computational overhead due to its complexity. To overcome this limitation, we implement a parallelized solution using custom CUDA kernels on a GPU, distributing matrix operations across thousands of threads rather than relying on sequential CPU execution. Through systematic benchmarking across matrix sizes ranging from 4×4 to 4096×4096, we identify a crossover region where GPU performance surpasses CPU efficiency. This work shows …

Hqcm And Strengthened Physics Content Curriculum: Effects On Preservice Teachers And Partnership Schools, Elizabeth Hallock, Veronica Stowe

Education Student Scholarship

In responding to Rhode Island’s 2019 legislative call for High Quality Curriculum Materials (HQCM), this study examines how the integration of HQCM and physics content- strengthened curriculum in a teacher preparation program helps develop preservice teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and elementary students’ understandings of physics ideas. This project investigates a new practicum model in which preservice teachers first learn a mini-unit on electrical energy to deepen their content knowledge and then to adapt state-suggested HQCM and select appropriate pedagogies to design and implement science lessons that meet the high expectations. This study collects data to measure changes in preservice …

Developing Physics And Computing Identities In A Computationally Integrated Physics Course, Elizabeth Hallock

Engineering & Physics Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Creating A Random Number Generator Harnessing: Lava Lamps As A Source Of Randomness, Rachel Barter, Nicolas Guerra, Sarah O'Connor

Mathematics & Computer Science Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Daily Eastern News: April, 22, 2026, Eastern Illinois University

Daily Eastern News: 2025-2026

No abstract provided.

Equity And Participation In Careers Education: Insights From Australian Year 10 Students, Kylie Hillman, Ben Edwards, Daniel Edwards, Ali Radloff, Jessica Arnup

Vocational, adult and professional education research

Navigating pathways into education, training, and the workforce has always been challenging for young people. With the growing complexity of the world of work and varied post-secondary education pathways, providing support and guidance is crucial. In Australia, national policies such as the Australian Blueprint for Career Development, National Career Development Strategy, and the National Career Education Strategy aim to support young people's career readiness. Despite the acknowledged importance of careers education, there is limited national reporting on its current state in Australian secondary schools. This article explores the experiences of over 15,000 Year 10 students in Australian schools, using data …

Investigating The Substrate Specificity Of Azo Bond Reduction In The Human Gut Microbiome, Najoude Claude, Annick Kenfack, Glorimar De Los Santos, Madeline Bormes

Chemistry & Biochemistry Student Scholarship

The bacteria of the human gut microbiome can metabolize drugs, often causing unintended side effects. The uniqueness and variability of each individual’s microbial composition, coupled with our limited understanding of specific enzyme functions, make the metabolic outcomes of these therapeutics difficult. Azoreductase enzymes are of particular interest due to their ability to reduce azo bonds, which are often found in drugs and food dyes. Azo dyes can also be reduced nonenzymatically by hydrogen sulfide, a bacterial metabolite produced during sulfate and cysteine metabolism. The goal of this study is to examine the specificity and relative kinetics of both enzymatic and …

Explicit Instruction First Vs. Exploration First: Which Order Is More Beneficial In Science Teaching?, Haley Gould, Hanna Szyller

Education Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Student Perspectives On Grading In Higher Education Stem Courses, Christopher Sean Burns, Daniela D.S. Digiacomo, Jennifer Pusateri, Katherine Ritchie, Christine Wusylko

Information Science Faculty Publications

Purpose

Despite a growing awareness of instructional practices that support student learning and well-being, higher education classrooms tend to still be dominated by the use of rigid approaches to assessment and course design. This study aims to understand the experiences of students in courses that implement a universal design for learning (UDL) pedagogical approach and an ungrading assessment approach. Design/methodology/approach

Leveraging a qualitative methodological approach, authors interviewed 13 graduate students in two library and information science technology courses and 11 undergraduate students in a computer science course in discrete mathematics about their experiences with ungrading within the context of UDL-designed …

Reflective Refinement Through Iterative Model Building, Idris Solola, Hillary Swanson, Sarah Schwartz, Rida Munir, Jared B. Arnell, Ravi Sinha

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Student Research

While research has emphasized the role of classroom discourse, hands-on demonstrations, and carefully crafted prompts in eliciting and responding to students’ ideas, there’s a need to investigate how the systematic design of modeling instruction can serve as the structure that naturally supports responsive teaching. Drawing on the knowledge in pieces (KiP) epistemology and the concept of responsive teaching, we present an instructional approach called guided reflective refinement (GRR), which guides students to articulate and examine their thinking through building and evaluating models. We analyzed middle school students’ model drafts over a 7-day unit on conservation of energy to understand the …

Em-Vrp: Energy-Minimizing Vehicle Routing Planning For Maneuver-Aware Uav Routing, Ryan Kuederle

Honors Theses

Advanced UAV missions, such as infrastructure inspection and disaster-zone sensing, are fundamentally constrained by limited onboard battery capacity. Conventional flight planners typically optimize for shortest distance, despite the fact that maneuver-dependent energy costs vary substantially and make distance a poor proxy for power consumption. This thesis develops an energy-centric routing framework that applies an action-weighted energy heuristic to formulate and solve an Energy-Minimized Vehicle Routing Problem (EM-VRP). In addition, it examines the joint optimization of vehicle energy expenditure and data freshness to ensure timely revisitation of spatial nodes. The framework is implemented through custom mission-planning software and validated on physical …

Impact Of Pvc Microplastics On The Growth Of Raphanus Sativus, Olivia Fawkes, Alissia D. Fulton, Darlene Panvini

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Microplastics have emerged as a growing concern due to their increasing prevalence in terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding how microplastics affect plant growth is crucial for the agricultural industry, as crop productivity and soil quality have a direct impact on food security and farm sustainability. This study examined the impact of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) microplastics on the germination and growth rate of Raphanus sativus. Seeds were grown for six weeks in a controlled growth chamber in petri plates and soil pots containing varying concentrations of PVC microplastics (0, 25, 50, 75, 100 mg/L), including untreated PVC and PVC artificially weathered through …

The Impact Of Smartphone Notifications And Locus Of Control On Reading Comprehension, Katherine Visner, Sarah M. Fritts, Audrey Laskey, Chloe Giraud

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Locus of Control, defined as “...individuals' beliefs about the degree of control they have over events in their lives,” has long been associated with task performance, specifically in both compliant and initiative domains (Blau, 1993; Galvin et al., 2018). Existing literature on task performance suggests that, aside from Locus of Control, noise distractions play a significant role in individuals' ability to focus and concentrate (Jafari et al., 2019). In academic contexts, research indicates that noise disturbances and subsequent inability to concentrate impede an individual's task performance by reducing reading comprehension and textual processing (Foroughi et al., 2015). As such, the …

Assessing The Role Of Egr1 In Invasive Migration Of P53-Variant Colorectal Cancer Cells, Mehrael Faragalla

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Colorectal cancer progression is influenced by dysregulated signaling pathways that affect cell proliferation and migration. One important pathway is WNT signaling, which promotes MYC expression and contributes to tumorigenesis. In the absence of functional p53, MYC has been shown to induce the tumor suppressor gene EGR1, leading to EGR1-driven apoptosis rather than proliferation. This noncanonical activity of MYC has been termed the MYC-EGR1 pathway and has only been observed in the absence of functional p53, a well-known genetic aberration associated with colorectal cancer progression. Of particular interest is the impact of the expression of EGR1 on colorectal cancer cell malignancy …

Cisplatin Chemotherapy Shown To Decrease Heart Rate In Daphnia Magna​, Cody Woten, Andrea Florian

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Although chemotherapies are widely used for cancer treatment, they pose side effects of cardiotoxicity. Cisplatin is a chemotherapy that binds covalently to DNA and causes cross-links that prevent further replication. However, limited data suggest that cisplatin may cause arrhythmias and acute myocardial infarction, likely due to oxidative stress from reactive oxygen species in mitochondria of the heart. Daphnia magna are effective models for assessing cisplatin cardiotoxicity because their transparent bodies allow direct observation of the heart, and heart rate can be easily measured under a microscope. We aim to determine whether cisplatin chemotherapy causes cardiotoxicity in vivo using D. magna. …

Contributors, Global Insight Editorial Team

Global Insight

No abstract provided.

The Misrepresentation Of American Sign Language And Deaf Culture In Mainstream Film Media A Call For Inclusive Representation, Katherine M. Hamilton, Dr. Lisalee Egbert

Global Insight

Mass film media has the power to shape popular culture and influence public opinions and perceptions; thus, properly portraying Deaf characters, the correct linguistic model of American Sign Language (ASL), and Deaf Culture in this powerful medium is crucial. This research examines the misrepresentation of Deaf Culture and ASL in film and its impact on realworld interactions between Deaf and hearing c/Communties. By analyzing historical film trends, bringing modern trends to light, and creating educational tools, this study aims to create measurable change in media practice. The study uses online questionnaires and interviews with ASL-fluent participants from the Deaf Community …

Full Issue, Global Insight Editorial Team

Global Insight

No abstract provided.

Deborah Overdeput Named Ceps Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient, Brooks Payette

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

A System Dynamics Model For Simulating Homelessness Trends In Montgomery County, Ohio, Samuel S. Conley

Honors Theses

Homelessness is a complex social issue influenced by a wide range of economic, social, and health related factors. Traditional methods for measuring homelessness, such as point-in-time counts, provide valuable snapshots of the population but do not capture the dynamic processes that lead individuals into or out of homelessness. This work presents a system dynamics model designed to simulate homelessness trends within Montgomery County, Ohio. The model represents the county population using five primary states: general population, at-risk, homeless, supportive housing, and unaccounted individuals. To better capture heterogeneity within the population, the homeless and supportive housing states are further decomposed into …