Digital Commons Network^™

Utah Secondary English Language Arts Teachers And The Use Of Body Diverse Young Adult Literature, Katy Johnson Bigham

Theses and Dissertations

Representation in young adult (YA) literature has expanded significantly in recent years, but body size diversity - specifically the inclusion of fat protagonists - is still minimal and understudied in secondary English language arts (ELA) classrooms. Research shows that diverse literature plays a crucial role in helping students see themselves and other reflected in the texts they read, as shown in the metaphor of literature as "windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors" (Bishop, 1990). So how does this apply to the representation of body size diversity in the ELA classroom? This study explores how secondary ELA teachers in Utah perceive …

Psoas Muscle Volume Asymmetry, Not Attachment Site Asymmetry, Is Associated With Chronic Low Back Pain Status, Kassity D. Clay

Theses and Dissertations

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a leading cause of disability worldwide, with increasing evidence implicating neuromuscular factors such as muscle asymmetry in its pathophysiology. The psoas major muscle (PMM), a key contributor to lumbar spine stability, has been comparatively under-investigated despite its biomechanical importance. PURPOSE: To determine whether right-to-left differences in PMM volume and attachment site asymmetry are associated with CLBP; to evaluate whether ODI, IPAQ, and age are associated with PMM volume imbalance; and to assess whether combined PMM volume and attachment asymmetry are associated with CLBP. METHODS: A retrospective secondary analysis was conducted using lumbar MRI data …

"A Politics Of Its Own": Reading Adelaide Procter's Poetry In The Context Of The English Woman's Journal, Rachel Diane Gouff

Theses and Dissertations

Victorian poet Adelaide Anne Procter, a devout Catholic and a nineteenth-century feminist and social activist, was hugely popular in her lifetime for her devotional and sentimental poetry. However, scholars who have looked closely at her work have recognized that her poetry contains moments of tension that suggest they may be more than they appear on the surface. Such tensions and ironies are often glossed over or misread by readers whose expectations of Christian devotional messaging and domestic sentiment overshadow the contradictions. In this paper, I propose that one of the most effective ways to more fully understand the nuance and …

Affective Archives: Friendship And Material Intimacy In The Manuscripts Of Dora Wordsworth And Maria Jane Jewsbury, Madison Elizabeth Maloney

Theses and Dissertations

Manuscripts have long been analyzed for how they circulated alongside traditionally published texts, with scholars taking an interest in both the content and material form of such documents. In a print-centric era like the early nineteenth century, the surplus of published writing was sometimes framed as impersonal and generic. As such, material elements of manuscripts like paper, ink, and handwriting were increasingly valued as affective reflections of authors' bodies and circumstances. For example, tear stains on a letter might allow for a more personal and meaningful connection between writer and reader than the homogeneity of mass-produced texts. In a project …

"But Will I Get In Trouble?": Negotiating Teacher Identity And Self-Censorship Amid Book Bans In Utah, Annika Nielson

Theses and Dissertations

Book banning is becoming an increasingly prominent and contested issue in the United States. The focus usually lies on school and district policy, banned book lists, and state legislation, but the impact on the daily lives of teachers is often overlooked. Their decision-making processes are key to determining the books that make it into classrooms, and self-censorship often occurs prior to formal book bans (Watkins & Ostenson, 2015; Woo et al., 2023). This study examines how teachers experience book banning in their individual lives through the way they navigate competing pressures and values when selecting books to teach. Utah teachers …

Diverse Directions - B.S. Senior Exhibition, Ellen C. Downing

B.A./B.S. Practicum Group Exhibit (ART 499)

Rooted in Faith, my work explores child development by examining how children interpret Biblical truth and the various narratives found in Scripture. I am fascinated by how children learn and interpret life, but more importantly, how children interpret faith. I grew up in a family where Christ is the center of our lives.

Using simplified forms, vibrant colors, and smooth textures, I create fun, illustrative paintings. The works of Joel Schoon-Tanis inspire me to incorporate aesthetic choices that reference childhood and make the work more accessible. Drawing from Biblical stories, my pieces incorporate themes of growth, compassion, and faith, using …

Sunday In The Park With George Playbill, Providence College Department Of Theatre, Dance, & Film

Playbill and Promotions

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance, & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre

Sunday in the Park with George, Music by Stephen Sondheim, Book by James Lapine

April 17th - 26th, 2026

Director, Dan Foster

Music Director, Dr. Eric Melley

Lighting Design, Jessica Winward

Sound Design, Gabriel Luxton

Movement, Nina Kossler

Voice & Dialect, Megan Chang

Scenic Design, Trevor Elliott

Costume Design, Jessie Darrell Jarbadan

Hair/Makeup Design, Michael Dates

Voice Coach, Elizabeth Heath

Assistant Director, Lia Chernysh

Cast: Jade Bocciarelli - Celeste #2/Elaine; Jack Cormier - Jules/Bob Greenburg; Claire Dancause - …

Diverse Directions - B.S. Senior Exhibition, Luca C. Schaefer-Knight

B.A./B.S. Practicum Group Exhibit (ART 499)

My art focuses on human connection, narratives, and emotions. I explore how people relate to themselves, to nature, and to each other, especially as they relate to shared experiences and mental health. My comic and zines detail the lives of teen characters and how they cope with trauma or mental illnesses. This is centered in how people seek to escape reality through reflection because of their fascination with stories and imagined characters that embody their struggles. The artist Lucy Kagan inspires my work for zines as well as characters, as she also uses zines to share about her characters and …

Volume Cxlv, Number 18, April 17, 2026, Lawrence University

The Lawrentian

No abstract provided.

Flu Vaccine Hesitancy In College-Aged People, Maria Sadek, Dr. Kaitlin Bonner

Fisher Showcase 2026

This project investigates influenza vaccine hesitancy among college‑aged individuals, the age group with the lowest national vaccination rates, to determine how these patterns manifest at Fisher. Building on my previous semester’s literature search, this semester focused on a deeper review of documented barriers and the development of an IRB‑approved survey tailored to Fisher students. Prior research highlights several predictors of vaccination, including past flu experience (a very strong predictor of vaccination behavior) and encouragement from trusted authorities. Alternatively, common barriers include low perceived risk, safety concerns, and cost or time constraints. Fisher‑specific data were collected to assess whether these national …

Ole Miss Giving Day 2026 Sets Participation Record, Michael Newsom

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss. – University of Mississippi alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends stepped up again during Giving Day 2026, with a record 3,223 gifts providing $1,789,552 for programs, scholarships and student opportunities.

Solitude & Busyness, Eliza Kuhlmann

Harding Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

The Story Game: Dissuading The Abolition Of Man With Narrative Intellectual Virtue & The Hunger Games, Camille Bewley

Harding Undergraduate Research Conference

Relativism in modern America is leading society toward the fruition of C.S. Lewis’ warning of the abolition of man. This nation once founded on freedom inches closer to the dystopia which Suzanne Collins depicts in her Hunger Games series. This paper recognizes the growing need for humanity to realign with truth and universal values, first by reorienting itself to narratives. Through intellectual virtues of understanding and prudence as defined by Aristotle, society can translate stories into their inherent purpose; seeing truth and reality within the bottle of imagination. Stories contain the answers, narratives are the way humanity subscribes to reality. …

From Campus To Career: Supporting Emerging Adults In A Contemporary Job Market, Martha Jarmuz, Lindsay Fredrick

Psychology Department Faculty Conferences

From campus to career, the contemporary job market presents new challenges for emerging adults, including AI literacy, depersonalized employer rejection, and burnout. Counselors are in a unique position to support first-time job seekers by integrating mental health and career development counseling models. This presentation will discuss the impact of career discouragement, introduce practical strategies to reframe job search identity, and cultivate resilience.

Centering Ethics And Engineering In Research, Idalis Villanueva Alarcón

LEAP Conference Speaker Slides

No abstract provided.

Exploration Of A Relationship Between The Activities Of Trail And 4’-Trifluoromethoxychalcone., Abigail C. Ernst

Undergraduate Theses

Cancer is the overgrowth of dysregulated or mutated cells that affects 1 in 3 Americans. Chalcones are natural products with many possible derivatives, such as 4’-trifluromethoxychalcone (4TF), developed in Dr. Krzysiak’s lab, which exhibit anticancer activity against cancer cell lines. Tumor Necrosis Factor-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) is a tumor surveillance cytokine that acts on two receptor types: death receptors and decoy receptors. One way cancer cells can become resistant to TRAIL is by upregulating decoy receptors and/or downregulating death receptors. In this study, MTS assays evaluated the potential relationship between TRAIL and 4TF that sensitizes A549 cells to TRAIL. The …

Amour Fati, Isabel Bolanos

B.F.A. Practicum Exhibition (ART 498)

conversations often leave me feeling stuck and misunderstood, as I grapple with a heaviness I can’t articulate. As a child, life felt vibrant, but now I find myself haunted by fragmented memories and a complex emotional landscape. This struggle drives my passion for creating art, particularly photography combined with mixed media elements. Through my work, I attempt to express the intense emotions I often can’t verbalize, using various techniques and materials to evoke feelings. Being Bipolar makes it challenging to articulate feelings of sadness or anger. By using different filters I can convey sensitivity, evoke memories, and convey time. I …

Health Professional Education Associations: What Other Professions Teach Us About Building Resources, Community, And Advocacy For Midwifery Educators, Kim Q. Dau, Ms, Cnm

Doctor of Midwifery Advances in Midwifery Projects

In response to a looming health care workforce deficit, several health professions have experienced recent rapid workforce growth. These professions are supported by specialized health professional associations designed to promote educational excellence in the face of rapid growth. In contrast, the midwifery profession does not have dedicated professional organizations to support education programs. The purpose of this study is to better understand the various strategies used by selected health professional education associations and their value to the profession. This can be adapted to promote the growth and excellence of midwifery education in the United States, responding to the need for …

Update Mechanisms In Event Models: Boundary Effects And Dimensional Influences, Xing Su

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

People construct working event models to comprehend dynamic, multimodal information such as movies and narratives, but how these models update remains debated. Two mechanisms have been proposed: incremental updating, which selectively modifies specific dimensions while preserving others, and global updating, which discards the existing model entirely to construct a new one. This dissertation investigated how event boundaries influence which updating mechanism people employ. Across two experiments, participants read narratives about everyday activities while we measured recognition memory response times and self-paced reading times. Participants also completed event segmentation tasks to identify perceived boundaries. Results revealed a consistent dissociation opposite to …

Ole Miss Honors Sharyn Alfonsi With 2026 Silver Em Award, Mackenzie Ross

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media honored Sharyn Alfonsi with the 2026 Samuel Talbert Silver Em Award, recognizing her distinguished career in journalism and her contributions to the profession.

2026 Honors College Research Conference: Book Of Abstracts And Program, Honors College

2026 Honors College Research Conference

This booklet contains the collection of research abstracts presented at the 2026 Honors College Research Symposium, held on April 17, 2026, at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The symposium highlights original undergraduate research across disciplines including science, engineering, humanities, health, education, business, and agriculture. The publication documents the scholarly contributions of Honors students through both oral and poster presentations.

Effects Of Probiotic Supplementation On Symptoms In Teenagers Ages 13-18 With Inflammatory Skin Conditions, Katelyn S. Walker, Jessica Rosen, Matilde Belfiore

Department of Nutrition Student Projects

Teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 are particularly susceptible to inflammatory skin disorders such as acne vulgaris and atopic dermatitis, which can have a detrimental effect on their physical and mental health. Emerging evidence highlights the importance of the gut-skin axis, indicating that the makeup of the gut microbiota affects both skin health and systemic inflammation. Adolescent-specific research is still limited even though probiotic supplementation, especially Lactobacillus strains, has demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects in laboratory, animal, and small clinical studies.

The purpose of this experimental study is to determine whether oral probiotic supplementation improves inflammatory skin condition symptoms in …

Agenda (4-17-2026), California State University, San Bernardino - Associated Students, Incorporated

Associated Students, Incorporated records

No abstract provided.

Using Ai To Identify National Security Threats: A Holistic Examination Of The Legal Risks And Increased Need For Regulation, Skylar Mcvicar

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

Artificial intelligence (AI) is integrating rapidly into daily practice, including in the national security sector. AI has the potential to improve bureaucratic efficiency, enhance military intelligence and threat assessment, and develop autonomous vehicles and weapons, making it a revolutionary tool in national security. Since AI implementation is a relatively recent phenomenon, there is currently limited governmental regulation in place to safeguard against potential violations of civil liberties and other legal risks. Given AI's capacity to infringe on certain civil liberties such as the Fourth Amendment right to privacy and the Fourteenth Amendment protection against discriminatory policies, establishing strong oversight measures …

Analysis Of Factors Enabling Organisational Governance Maturity For The Technical Audit Function In Tanzania, George C. Haule

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The study aimed to identify key factors contributing to Organisational Governance Maturity (OGM) of the Technical Audit Functions (TAF) in Tanzania.  The study employed a sequential approach as a research design.  The first step was to collect and analyse literature studies to identify factors enabling the OGM of the TAF.  Next, a questionnaire was administered to one hundred twenty-eight (128) respondents from seven (7) TAFs to rank the key enabling factors that were identified from the literature that influence the OGM of TAF in Tanzania.  Using data from a questionnaire administered to 128 respondents, a two-step strategy was employed to …

Metonymy In Sound: A Neurolinguistic Study Of Al-Mullalah Soundscape Using Fnirs, Rand Naser Muflih

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the semantic and neurolinguistic development of Al-Mullalah, a traditional Palestinian "coded" song type. By combining metonymy, soundscape analysis, and functional neuroimaging, the study traces the evolution of Al-Mullalah from a localized, covert means of communication tied to historical struggle to a globally recognized auditory symbol of collective resilience. The research uses a multi-method approach. First, soundscape analysis demonstrates how Al-Mullalah functions within Palestinian aural counterpublics, strengthening communal memory through various uses. Second, a qualitative analysis of semantics and themes examines how the text's metonymic structures change over time. Lastly, a Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy …

Silicon Dioxide Multimode Interferometer Spectrometers, James Harkness

Theses and Dissertations

Multi-mode interferometer (MMI) spectrometers are a type of reconstructive micro-spectrometer based on imaging light propagation patterns in MMI waveguides. This dissertation describes how the MMI spectrometer was implemented for the first time using a silicon dioxide core. This approach showed a 6 dB improvement in SNR over SU-8 core devices. To implement the silicon dioxide MMI spectrometer, a fabrication technique for selectively roughening the surface of the waveguide needed to be developed. SU-8, a photosensitive polymer, was etched with oxygen plasma to create grass-like nanostructures. SU-8 grass can then be used as a transfer mask to plasma etch a surface. …

Subversive Speculative Theology In Women's Stories From The Mormon Home Literature Movement, Rachel Meibos Helps

Theses and Dissertations

In the 1910s, Mormon women used sentimental speculative fiction published in official Relief Society Magazine to engage theological questions often reserved for male ecclesiastical authority. This paper examines three short stories: Edna Coray's "A Quitter–Almost." (1918), Lucy May Green's "A Whiff of Ether" (1919), and Laura Jenkins's "Beyond the Portals" (1916), each of which depicts a woman's encounter with the spirit world at the moment of death or near-death. Drawing on the Mormon Home Literature movement and the broader tradition of sentimental fiction as political and moral discourse, I argue that these authors used narrative to fill gaps in official …

An Examination Of K-12 Administrators' Philosophical Views On Music Education, Kathryn Ann Smith

Theses and Dissertations

K-12 administrators' beliefs about the purpose and value of music education have resulted in inconsistent support for students' access to music education in public schools. This study sought to examine administrators' philosophical views about music education and factors that may influence those beliefs, contributing the first known application of a praxial framework in assessing administrator belief systems. I developed a survey incorporating Song's (2025) Philosophical Beliefs Scale (Ph.B. Scale) to measure utilitarian, aesthetic, and praxial philosophical perspectives, along with key demographic and contextual characteristics. Participants (N = 65) were recruited via e-mail and K-12 administrator Facebook groups and represented a …

Cardozo Law News Brief: April 17, 2026, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Briefs

Highlights from the April 17, 2026 Cardozo Law News Brief include:

• Professor Jessica Roth spoke to NPR about why no arrests have resulted from the Epstein files, noting the lack of context surrounding released materials.
• Professor Zalman Rothschild authored an op-ed in The Washington Post arguing that the Supreme Court should uphold childhood vaccination mandates and warning against expansive interpretations of parental rights.
• Professor Rebecca Ingber was quoted in The Washington Post on the Senate’s war powers vote, emphasizing the legal realities of U.S. involvement in Iran.
• Professor Saurabh Vishnubhakat spoke to Law.com about the Supreme Court’s Cox decision and …