Digital Commons Network^™

A Low-Rank Solver For The Stokes–Darcy Model With Random Hydraulic Conductivity And Beavers–Joseph Condition, Yujun Zhu, Yulan Ning, Zhipeng Yang, Xiaoming He, Ju Ming

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper proposes, analyzes, and demonstrates an efficient low-rank solver for the stochastic Stokes-Darcy interface model with a random hydraulic conductivity both in the porous media domain and on the interface. We consider three interface conditions with randomness, including the Beavers–Joseph interface condition with the random hydraulic conductivity, on the interface between the free flow and the porous media flow. Our solver employs a novel generalized low-rank approximation of the large-scale stiffness matrices, which can significantly cut down the computational costs and memory requirements associated with matrix inversion without losing accuracy. Therefore, by adopting a suitable data compression ratio, the …

Understanding Music In The Digital Era: Media & Listening Changes, William H. Gawtry

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Our ever-growing reliance on technology and digital media has profoundly impacted how we consume music in the internet age. In analyzing music semiology, particularly by using music semiology as a method, I analyze Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s Daughter, the differences between physical and digital media are assessed as well as how digital technology is changing the listening experience, both in terms of quality and quantity. The drastic shift from analog to digital has inherently changed access and distribution, while also expanding the interpretive tools available to all listeners. A variety of factors—such as the immediate gratification from streaming services and …

Red, White, And Quahog: An Analysis Of Political Satire In Family Guy, Kendall Swaim

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This study examines how fictional television shows use satire to portray politics. Specifically, it analyzes irony, exaggeration, and humor styles identified by Martin et al. (2003) in the television show Family Guy. Additionally, this study explores how references to real political figures and events contribute to the show’s satirical framing of politics. The qualitative content analysis of 10 politically centered Family Guy episodes to address the question: "How does the fictional television show Family Guy use satire (humor, irony, and exaggeration) to portray politics?" The analysis revealed three key themes: the portrayal of politics as idiotic, the use of timely …

Unmaking And Remaking Crimean Tatar Identity Stalin’S Deportation, Sürgün Stories, And The Claiming Of Indigeneity, Milo A. Clarkson

International Studies Honors Projects

The Crimean Tatars exist within a framework of historical and modern Russian settler colonial oppression. By examining their preferred form of identification, this thesis argues that claiming indigeneity holds promise for combating this colonial structure. Further, it identifies the construction of collective memories of the Sürgün (1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatars) in virtual museum project Tamirlar’s oral histories as a form of discursive decolonization—the reclamation of cultural, linguistic, and historical representation and primacy on the land. Novel analysis of fifty interviews with Sürgün survivors preserves indigenous Crimean identity and challenges the retrospective settler colonial construction of Crimea as “Russian.”

Analyzing Educators’ Roles In Preparing Students For Civic Engagement In Arkansas Communities, Mia L. Hastings

Curriculum and Instruction Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study identifies practical strategies educators can implement in their instruction to strengthen students’ political efficacy and civic engagement in Arkansas communities. This qualitative research study sought to answer the question, “How do educators prepare students for civic engagement in Arkansas?” The research was conducted within the framework of a practice-based experience with the Arkansas Collegiate Civic Leadership Academy (ACCLA), a seven-month program hosted by the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute. I participated in five seminars on topics such as public service, journalism, and local governance, to analyze how engagement with these experiences can inform educators’ roles in promoting civic engagement. After …

Blooming Beginnings: An Occupational Therapy Approach To Helping Families Grow, Grace L. Mcconnell

Occupational Therapy Capstone Presentations

The transition to parenthood is accompanied by monumental changes in health, wellness, roles, and routines. These changes impact an individual's ability to participate in their daily activities and particularly for mothers, this experience impacts her entire life. Through this transition, parents must not only participate in their own occupations but also learn how to advocate and care for their child(ren). However, families are provided very limited educational resources to prepare them for this transition. Occupational therapy can bridge the gap in family preparedness by utilizing evidence-based education to address physical, psychological, and social wellbeing. Occupational therapy education can advise parents …

Occupational Therapy For Caregiver Support And General Clinical Practice In Rural Settings, Madysen M. Handel

Occupational Therapy Capstone Presentations

This capstone project aimed to develop advanced clinical practice skills and implement a structured caregiver intervention program within a rural outpatient pediatric occupational therapy setting at Hegg Health Center in Rock Valley, Iowa. Guided by the Model of Human Occupation, the Occupational Adaptation model, and the cognitive behavioral frame of reference, the project emphasized caregiver participation, routine-based strategy use, and support for sensory-emotional regulation across daily environments. Caregiver stress and perceptions of strategy use were assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and a caregiver follow-up survey developed to evaluate confidence supporting regulation strategies and participation within home routines. Results …

2025-2026 Annual Report - Undergraduate Curriculum Council, Undergraduate Curriculum Council, East Tennessee State University

Undergraduate Curriculum Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Advertising In Shaping Eating Habits, Mary J. Landrum

Journalism Undergraduate Honors Theses

Today, more individuals worldwide are classified as overweight than underweight (World Health Organization, n.d.-a.). Over the past several decades, obesity rates have increased dramatically, particularly in the United States. Since the 1960s, the prevalence of obesity in the U.S. has risen from 13% to 43%, reflecting a significant shift in population health. Even more striking, less than 1% of Americans were considered morbidly obese in 1960, compared to nearly 10% today (USAFacts, 2023). This trend is not limited to the United States. Globally, the percentage of adults living with obesity more than doubled between 1990 and 2022, increasing from 7% …

The Impact Of Increased Beef Intake On Cardiometabolic Health In Postmenopausal Women: A 16-Week Randomized Controlled Trial, Leen Samman

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

By 2030, it is projected that the number of post-menopausal women globally will reach 1.2 billion. Moreover, because of increases in life expectancy, women will spend a greater proportion of their later years at elevated risk of chronic disease associated with the hormonal changes of the menopausal transition. Dietary interventions, specifically high-protein diets have shown potential mitigating effects; however, most interventions have focused on total protein intake or protein supplements, not whole foods like lean beef. This randomized controlled trial aimed to assess the effects of daily lean beef consumption as part of a higher protein diet on cardiometabolic markers …

Recursion, Regurgitation, And Regeneration: Testing Limits And Revealing Biases Of Generative Ai Models Through Multimodal Feedback Loops, William Donnell-Lonon

Data Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Contemporary generative AI systems such as OpenAI's GPT-4o and DALL-E models embed complex priors about society, reality, and history shaped by training data distributions, social alignment procedures, legal constraints, and safety regulations. This study uses a "telephone game" methodology to investigate how embedded social, political, and visual biases propagate and reveal themselves through iterative multimodal generation loops, where image captioning and text-to-image models are chained in successive feedback cycles.

Using CLIP similarity metrics, facial recognition algorithms, semantic drift analysis, and qualitative content observations, I tested how image subject matter affects the rate and quality of semantic and visual shift, identity …

A Spatial Analysis Of Streetlights In The City Of Sugar Land, Samuel J. Trout

Data Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to analyze patterns between public safety and streetlighting for the City of Sugar Land, TX so that they may better protect their citizens.  The data involved come from the City of Sugar Land’s public works division and include type and location for all the attributes. The method of doing so involved visualizing the patterns of streetlights and their closest light readings to visualize which streetlights are underperforming using the Shiny package in R. Statistical tests were also used to quantify the association between lighting, crime occurrence, and crosswalks. From this, and the literature review, …

Developing And Mobilizing A Ttrpg Experience: Season D6, Jacob Woodrow Horne

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

Season D6 is a game that will be developed as an attempt to refine certain issues seen in popular games. These shared problems include allowing players to become self-sufficient in a way that clashes with a team-based mindset, and a lack of flexibility and accidental antagonism placed upon the storyteller. To remedy these issues, Season D6 will break up the statistics that players use to calculate their in-game abilities into three separate groups, employ an experience system used to purchase abilities at a controlled, exponential rate and to calculate encounters, and uses a “Dabble” system intended to specify the roles …

Campus Chronicle - 50th Anniversary Edition, Jayden Park, Andy Langager

Campus Chronicle

Celebrating 50 years!

Abigail Sarai: A Neuroaesthetic Approach To Fashion Brand Development, Abby Martos

Theses

This thesis project presents a comprehensive direct-to-consumer business plan for an independent women’s fashion brand, Abigail Sarai, strategically positioned around the commercial value of aesthetic design. The project is grounded in an interdisciplinary theoretical framework integrating neuroaesthetics and consumer behavior research. Existing literature demonstrates that visual principles such as symmetry, harmony, and proportion activate neural reward systems associated with pleasure, while consumer research identifies happiness and emotional well-being as central drivers of purchasing behavior. Building upon these findings, this project proposes that aesthetic beauty can function as a deliberate and measurable value proposition within fashion entrepreneurship. By aligning brand design …

The Unfairness Of Fairness: Legal Architecture For Polarized Media, Alim Ulbashev

Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review

No abstract provided.

Artificial Intelligence And Facial Recognition Technology Are Rewriting The Olympic Playbook's Security Infrastructure: An Examination Of The Paris Games And The Prospective Los Angeles Games, Ani Tarakchyan

Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review

No abstract provided.

Does Self-Compassion Buffer Against The Potential Effects Of Perfectionism And Psychopathology On Non-Suicidal Self-Injury?, Natasha Bourgoin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

University students with increased rates of reported perfectionism, anxiety, and depression, are vulnerable to non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). However, not all students with psychological distress engage in NSSI, suggesting protective factors may help to mitigate this risk. The present study examined the relation between perfectionism and NSSI, via the mediating effects of anxiety and depression, and the moderating role of self-compassion. Participants were 338 university students (67% female; 87% White) who completed several self-report measures. Students with greater perfectionism reported higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms and, in turn, more NSSI engagement. Self-compassion and several self-compassionate domains attenuated connections between …

Selective Extraction Of Nickel And Cobalt From Limonitic Laterite Via Optimized Sulfation Roasting–Water Leaching And Solvent Extraction, Maryam Osali, Farid Ahani, Mohammad Reza Aboutalebi, Mandana Adeli, Javad Moghaddam, Saeid Karimi, Janaka Jayamini Wijenayake, Lana Alagha

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Limonitic laterites typically contain low Ni and Co contents and significant impurities, making the development of technical and economically feasible processes challenging. To address this challenge, this study investigates and evaluates an integrated hydrometallurgical process comprising sulfation roasting, water leaching, and solvent extraction (SX) for the selective recovery of Ni and Co from limonite-type laterite. Response Surface Methodology coupled with a Central Composite Design (RSM-CCD) was employed as a statistical experimental design tool to efficiently optimize the sulfation roasting conditions. Under the optimal sulfation roasting conditions (temperature 703 °C), selective leaching efficiencies of 87.2% for Ni and 96.6% for Co …

Bulletin Ninth District Ny May 2026

Bulletin of the Ninth District Dental Association

In the May 2026 issue, the reader will find the following feature articles:

• "ADA Lobby Day 2026"
• "Dentistry for Individuals with Special Needs"
• "ADA Trustee Corner"
• "CE Navigator FAQ"
• "NYSDA Wins in 2025"
• "Peer Review and Quality Assurance: What is it and Why is it an Important Member Benefit?"

Also included are your monthly President's Message, event updates, continuing education opportunities, membership news and classifieds.

From Tech To Table: Moving Sustainable Proteins Beyond Marketplace Bottlenecks, Andy Fitch, Cynthia Hanawalt

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Climate advocates may hope to see dramatic commercial breakthroughs over the next several decades that reshape emissions-intensive components of our everyday lives, such as our dietary choices, household energy use, and transportation habits. Yet transforming these consumer sectors will require not only scientific ingenuity and entrepreneurial ambition, but also nimble competition policy to address complex market dynamics.

Sustainable food production likely necessitates substantial departure from traditional livestock-management practices. Agricultural production currently generates about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions (“GHGs”). Animal livestock account for the largest share, while occupying roughly 40% of the Earth’s habitable land, much of which could …

How To Start A Clarinet Choir: A Guide For Educators And Enthusiasts, Kornel Juhasz

Doctoral Scholarly Projects & Capstones

Despite more than a century of performance history, the clarinet choir remains an underrepresented ensemble in scholarly literature, with few comprehensive resources available to guide educators in starting and maintaining successful ensembles. This project addresses that gap by developing an evidence-based guide for starting and sustaining a clarinet choir. The study combines a review of existing literature on clarinet choir history, and repertoire, as well as relevant topics such as the history of the clarinet, wind conducting, and chamber music techniques. To supplement the limited published resources on clarinet choir, interviews were conducted with experienced clarinet choir directors from universities …

An Introduction To East Asian Art: Tour Guide #3, The Year 1591, Victoria Weston

OER Textbooks

Please Note: This tour guide is the third in Victoria Weston's An Introduction to East Asian Art in Three Journeys. To access the full book, visit https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/3/

For the remaining sections, visit:

Guide Part 1: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/4/

Guide Part 2: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/5/ This book is an introduction to important art forms practiced in China, the Korean peninsula, and Japan. It is in no way an encyclopedic treatment of the art histories of East Asia. Rather, it is a textbook for a single semester course. Each section is devoted to one year in time and framed by historical factors that naturally encourage comparative …

An Introduction To East Asian Art In Three Journeys, Victoria Weston

OER Textbooks

Please Note: This is the full version of this record. For individual tour guides, visit the following links:

Guide Part 1: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/4/ Guide Part 2: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/5/ Guide Part 3: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/6/

This book is an introduction to important art forms practiced in China, the Korean peninsula, and Japan. It is in no way an encyclopedic treatment of the art histories of East Asia. Rather, it is a textbook for a single semester course. Each section is devoted to one year in time and framed by historical factors that naturally encourage comparative analysis. Students learn methods of visual analysis while also exploring …

Extracting California's Land Grant History: A Comparative Study Of Rule-Based And Llm Methods For Historical Document Processing, Anthony Colin Herrera, Anthony Colin Herrera

Master's Theses

This thesis explores methods to extract structured data from historical documents, making them more accessible for analysis and visualization. The goal is to provide historians and Digital Humanities scholars with tools that save time and reduce the manual effort required for this kind of research. We work with census records and historical texts from the Early California Population Project and Spanish Colonial census, covering California's 18th-19th century transition from Spanish and Mexican control to U.S. statehood. The system has three components: person matching across records, family tree generation, and land grant extraction. For person matching, we use a modified Levenshtein …

Artificial Intelligence Adoption Among Community College Faculty: A Comparative Analysis Of Rural And Urban Institutions, Morgan A. Saunders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has created new opportunities and challenges for higher education institutions. Community colleges, which serve diverse student populations and play a significant role in workforce development, must determine. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate differences in artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, usage patterns, and perceptions of importance among faculty at two rural community colleges and two urban community colleges in the United States. Specifically, the study investigated whether statistically significant differences existed in the perceived importance of AI and in the number of AI tools used by faculty across institutional contexts. In …

Are We Still Bowling Alone – Part Iii: Our Diminished Life In Public And Its Consequences, Kenneth Woodward

eJournal of Public Affairs

Editor’s note. The following is based on a panel session from the 2024 Public Affairs Conference, presented by Nancy Ammerman, Harry Bruinius, and Kenneth Woodward. The panel was a reflection on what has happened since authors Robert Putnam and Robert Bellah issued warnings on the decline of community in America.

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report – Bakersfield Del Oro High School, Xena M. Millan

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This AGED 539 portfolio documents the comprehensive development, management, and continuous improvement of the Bakersfield–Del Oro High School Agricultural Education Program. The portfolio demonstrates alignment with California Agricultural Education Quality Criteria through evidence of curriculum planning, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) implementation, FFA leadership development, program management, recruitment strategies, advisory committee collaboration, professional development, and long-term program planning. As a newly established agricultural education program, emphasis is placed on creating sustainable systems, increasing student access to experiential learning opportunities, and building a strong foundation for future growth.

A central component of the portfolio is the Quality Criteria Improvement Project, which focused …

How Does Five Days Of Tapering Effect Rates Of Fatigue And Recovery In Collegiate Male Swimmers?, Riley Yerks

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

This study was conducted on the members of the 2025-26 St. John's "Johnnies" swim and dive team. This study used both subjective surveys and objective HRV readings that the swimmers took before and after practice. The first day of testing occurred on the last day of the regular training season, and the second day of testing occurred on the last day of tapered training. Results of the surveys and HRV readings were compared between pre and post-practice, and pre and post-taper. The subjective surveys showed how the swimmers themselves felt in terms of physical and mental energy and fatigue, and …

Shedding Light On The Invisible Work Of Peer Recovery Support Specialists Through The Design Of A Point Of Care Technology., Jessica A Pater, Elisabeth Andrews, Michelle Drouin, Mindy Flanagan, Dana Albright, Rachel Pfafman, Jeanne Carroll, Erik Hess, Tammy R Toscos

Health Services and Informatics Research

Peer Recovery Support Specialists (PRSSs) are certified professionals that provide social, informational, and logistical supportto people in recovery fromsubstance use disorders. In this study, we report the findings from design work completed with a teamof PRSSsto define workflowand informationalneeds for the developmentofa novel point of care software. Through our qualitative research we uncovered a significant amount of undocumented work that is necessary for a PRSS to provide individualized support to their clients. Thus, much PRSS work is not quantified and rendered "invisible." We present technology design strategies that help quantify these tasks and illuminate the complexity of PRSS work.