Digital Commons Network^™

Nonesuch Road, Allie Goolrick

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

Ambitious TV news producer Lex is killing the game at work but on the brink of failing when it comes to parenting her 6-year-old son, Sawyer. Her life in a high-pressure newsroom—defined by urgency, metrics, and relentless tragedy—has made her forget what is really important in her real life.

A bad call that puts her son directly in the path of some serious gun violence forces her to take a professional break and retreat to her family’s farm in Virginia to regroup. There, she reconnects with her no-nonsense Aunt Mel and a cast of characters from the past and is …

2026 April - What's New, Jenifer A. Harding

5BFTS Announcements - What’s New

Details of new items published in the 5BFTS Digital Archive between January and April 2026 including Newsletters, Audio files, Biographies of cadets who lie in the British Plot, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Arcadia, Florida and Images of Jim Watters and WW2 postcards of Florida.

"Just Friends:" The Linguistics Of Queerness In Lady Audley's Secret And Carmilla, Kelley A. Peters

English

Many queer studies scholars have debated the legitimacy of queer coding within Victorian literature, such as Marc Milton Ducusin, who wrote Queer Doubles: The Victorian Sensation Novel and English Sexology, and Sharon Marcus, the author of Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England. These authors analyze real-life and fictional behaviors of those within Victorian England to argue that queerness is present in certain Victorian works. However, these arguments do not adequately address the linguistic significance of the queer coding present in these works, and they specifically ignore the label of “friend” and its many meanings in Victorian …

Tackling The Societal And Regulatory Challenges Of Emerging Technologies: A Case Study Of Deepfake, Jingyao Li

2026

Governing emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses enduring challenges for policymakers, industries, and societies. Early-stage governance is often hindered by limited understanding of technological implications, rapid innovation cycles, and resistance from powerful industry actors who favor minimal oversight. Yet, timely and effective governance is essential, as new technologies are most malleable in their formative stages. This dissertation examines how emerging technologies can be governed effectively by using deepfakes technology as a focal case. This dissertation comprises three interrelated studies.

The first paper reviews the literature on deepfakes and emerging technology governance, identifying the distinct characteristics of deepfake technology …

The Relationship Between Culturally Responsive Teaching (Crt) Training, Teachers’ Children’S Book Choices, And Perceptions Of Censorship In Kuwait, Norma Gina Lombardi Sciarra

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers who are culturally responsive use classroom materials that reflect their students' ethnicities, traditions, and values. Western teachers have access to diverse books and classroom tools. They have the agency to choose materials that support the curriculum. However, when Western educators work abroad, they must adapt their teaching methods and tools to local norms. Working abroad may require censoring or omitting information and content they believe in and support. As a result, teachers may feel dissonance or conflict when censoring. Censoring may impact their ability to teach comprehensively. Little research examines the relationship between culturally responsive teaching (CRT), perceptions of …

The Relationship Between School Climate And Academics, Discipline, And Attendance At Rural Midwest Middle Schools, Hannah Pagel

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School climate is a necessary aspect of school improvement. There are many different areas of school climate, making it challenging for schools to focus improvement efforts. Previous research identifies safety and relationships as being two of the main components of school climate. These two components relate to student grades, behavior, and attendance. Framed by Bronfenbrenner and Cole’s (1979) social-ecological perspective, Plutchik and Kellerman’s (1980) emotion theory, Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory, and Maslow’s (1943) needs theory, this research study examined school climate and student success in a middle school setting. For this quantitative study, data from the 2025 Minnesota Student …

Cultivating Holistic And Mindful Rest Practices: A Workbook, Cecelia V. Murray

Mindfulness Theses

In a cultural moment that conflates productivity with self-worth, rest is often undervalued or seen as indulgent. This thesis explores mindfulness as a means of reframing rest as an essential human right and a cornerstone of holistic wellness. Drawing on Bill Hettler’s Six Dimensions of Wellness (i.e. physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and occupational wellness), this project situates mindful rest as a multidimensional practice that supports balance across body, mind, and spirit. This work also highlights the social, structural, and psychological barriers that affect individuals’ access to rest. It argues that while mindfulness alone cannot resolve systemic inequities, it can …

Mindfulness And Psychedelics: Rethinking The Fifth Precept, Ernesto Londono

Mindfulness Studies Theses

The fields of psychedelics and mindfulness have a long history of cross-pollination in the United States that dates to the counterculture movement in the 1960s. As the use of these mind-altering compounds in therapeutic and spiritual contexts has become less stigmatized and more popular in recent years, psychedelic retreats and therapies are once again drawing people who also value contemplative practices. This paper explores the historic and contemporary tension people with overlapping interests in mindfulness and psychedelics have faced as they interpreted the Fifth Precept, the Buddhist guideline that advises people to abstain from intoxicants. Taking stock of the history …

What Truly Drives Graduate Earnings?, Aiden Akbarov

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2026

The goal of my project, Predicting the Paycheck: What Factors Truly Influence Graduate Earnings?, was to see if we could actually predict a college graduate's starting salary using data instead of just guessing. I used a dataset of 172 majors from the American Community Survey to look at how a student's field of study, the gender balance of their major, and the current job market all impact their first paycheck. I wanted to create a tool that helps students understand the financial reality of their degree before they even graduate.

To get my results, I used a Multiple Linear Regression …

Exploring Sexually Explicit Material Literacy In Compressive Sex Education, Ashton Payne

2026 Honors Symposium

Background: Pornography has become increasingly accessible in recent years, particularly for younger audiences. Many individuals now report first exposure before the age of fourteen, underscoring the need for early, developmentally appropriate interventions within public education. To address students’ existing norms, misconceptions, and media‑driven expectations, especially those related to sexually explicit material (SEM), educators and researchers have emphasized the importance of pornography literacy as a critical component of modern comprehensive sex education (CSE). Purpose: This review synthesizes current research on pornography literacy pedagogy, with particular attention to its implementation, delivery methods, and documented impacts on adolescent knowledge, attitudes, and …

Small Habits, Gpa Differences: The Relationships Between Student Habits And Academic Performance, Tyler Pham, Mihael Heysen, Yi Chen, Alexandra Honeycutt, Mai Nguyen

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2026

This project looked at how the habits students do every day affect how well they do in school and which things are most important. It uses information from 1,000 students to examine how factors like time spent studying, sleeping, mental health, class participation, and screen time affect grades. All of this information was analyzed to build a model that could predict how well students would do on tests and to make sure the results were accurate.

The results showed that spending more time studying makes the biggest difference in improving grades, while too much screen time can hurt performance. Getting …

Beyond The Game: Educating Youth Coaches In Sport Psychology And Psychological Skills Training, John Wygant

Psychology Doctoral Specialization Projects

This paper presents the development of a manualized program designed to train youth sport coaches to implement a psychological skills training (PST) program that enhances both athletic performance and mental health. Rooted in sport psychology and coaching expertise, this program introduces a novel approach to addressing youth mental health challenges through upstream intervention. With many young athletes facing mental health struggles and traditional efforts in schools and communities showing limited success, this program equips coaches to teach essential psychological skills such as goal setting, adaptive thinking, confidence, and emotional regulation. By integrating these skills into sports practices and presenting them …

Utilizing The Mmpi-3 To Assess Symptoms Of Ptsd In Post-9/11 Veterans, Lauren A. Worden-Baroni

Psychology Doctoral Specialization Projects

Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are heterogeneous, and the psychological impact of trauma varies. This underlines the need for better understanding the impact of trauma on the development of psychopathology, especially in populations where traumatic stressors are more prevalent. Specifically, the current study will evaluate how the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3) can be used to measure psychopathology presentations among those who have been exposed to military trauma. Although there is myriad research supporting the use of other MMPI measures (e.g., MMPI-2-RF) in the assessment of trauma-related psychopathology in military populations, there is limited evidence supporting the use of …

Bragging Rights: How Women Candidates Use Endorsements In Strategic Messages, Eva Carter, Tyhlar Holliway

Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Program

This research analyzes the methods and terminology employed by men and women candidates when they talk about their political endorsements in strategic campaign communication. While existing literature addresses topics such as educating uninformed voters, the influence of endorsements in political campaigns, messaging ethics, celebrity endorsements, and the correlation between money and endorsements, analyses of gender differences in the use and types of endorsements remain underdeveloped. We argue that women candidates, due to the unique vulnerabilities they face in campaigns (Bauer 2015; Lazarus and Steigerwaltz 2018), will be more likely than men to highlight their endorsements in campaign ads. We record …

Vascular Identity And Remodeling: Sox17 Mediates Arteriovenous Fistula Maturation, Andrew William Schwartz

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Background/Scientific Premise Mature arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) are the gold standard vascular access allowing hemodialysis for patients with end-stage kidney disease. The rate of AVF failure remains high, reflecting an incomplete understanding of the biology of AVF maturation and failure. Sox17 is a transcription factor indispensable for the acquisition and maintenance of endothelial arterial identity. Because endothelial cells (EC) acquire dual arteriovenous identity after AVF creation, we determined whether Sox17 mediates venous remodeling in AVF. Research Aims This study aims to characterize the degree of Sox17 expression within the venous outflow tract after AVF creation in humans and in a mouse …

“Treatment Not Tents:" The Medicalization Of Homelessness In California’S 2022-2025 Legislative Agenda, Elana R. Straus

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Modern homelessness emerged in the 1980s due to political choices that cut the social safety net and decreased the availability of affordable housing. Medicalized views of homelessness that frame homelessness as driven by individual pathology, particularly mental illness and addiction, emerged in research, media, and politics at this time. Homelessness has persisted since and remains particularly high in regions, including California, where the housing markets are most constrained. In this context, California advanced multiple legislative changes between 2022 and 2025 that increased pathways to involuntary treatment and criminal-legal control over people experiencing homelessness. In this thesis, I demonstrate how legislators …

Pinky Extension In American Sign Language: Evidence For A Lexically Restricted Morphological Process, Laurel Whitsett

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations

This study investigates pinky extension (PE) in American Sign Language (ASL). PE involves extending the pinky finger in signs, even though this feature is not present in standard dictionary representations of those signs. Although PE has been previously described as conveying emphasis, this account does not fully explain its distribution. This study asks whether PE reflects a meaningful part of how signs are structured in ASL, rather than a matter of individual style or variation. Focusing on adjectives, it examines whether PE interacts with sentence position. In ASL, certain adjectives may appear either before (prenominally) or after (postnominally) the noun …

Measles Vaccine Hesitancy Improvement Bundle To Improve Vaccination Rates In A Rural Outpatient Clinic, Ramie Malone

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Introduction

Despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations to vaccinate children against measles, a decline in measles vaccination rates has been observed at a rural family medicine clinic. While numerous factors contribute to the decline in vaccination rates—including parental doubts about the necessity of vaccination, concerns about vaccine side effects, and insufficient education—the latter remains a fundamental underlying cause of suboptimal vaccination coverage.

Objectives

This project focused on surveying, educating, and boosting parents' confidence in measles vaccines for children under five to raise the measles vaccination rate.

Methods

This project used a pre- and post-intervention bundle over an …

Starting Strong: Improving Mmr Vaccination Rates In Kindergartners, Regina Bryan

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Abstract

Introduction

During the 2023–2024 academic year, measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination coverage among kindergarten students in this school district did not meet the Healthy People 2030 target, thereby elevating the risk of disease outbreaks. This quality improvement project aimed to improve MMR vaccination initiation and completion through coordinated, school-based interventions.

Methods

Guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework, an eight-week immunization bundle was implemented across 14 elementary schools in South Texas. Interventions included reminder calls, multilingual education, districtwide communication, and a partnership with a nonprofit clinic that provides free or reduced-cost vaccines through on-site and community clinics. Pre- and post-intervention …

Improving Discharge Delays Through A Real-Time Durable Medical Equipment Tracking System And Enhanced Interdisciplinary Communication, Shonda Houston

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Background: Timely hospital discharge is essential for patient safety, satisfaction and hospital efficiency. Discharge delays, particularly those related to durable medical equipment (DME), increase length of stay (LOS), strain hospital resources and negatively impact patient outcomes. Evidence suggests that structured discharge planning and improved interdisciplinary communication reduce these delays.

Problem: On an acute care stepdown unit inconsistent DME tracking and poor communication among nurses, case managers, physicians, physical therapist, and DME vendors were identified as contributors to prolonged patient stays.

Methods: Guided by the Iowa Model of Evidence- Based Practice a real-time manual DME tracking system and …

A Questionnaire Assessing Attitudes And Readiness For Hiv Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Therapy For Community Members At-Risk For Hiv Acquisition In Liberia, Yishak Bedaso

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

AbstractA Questionnaire Assessing Attitudes And Readiness For HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Therapy For Community Members At-Risk For HIV Acquisition In Liberia Yishak Bedaso;1 Jessica Tuan, MD, MS;2 Yassah M. Barclay-Korboi;3 Onyema Ogbuagu MBBCh, FACP, FIDSA4 Affiliation: 1. Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA 2. Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Department of Infectious Diseases, New York, NY, USA 3. JFK Memorial Hospital, Monrovia, Liberia. 4.Yale Antivirals & Vaccines Research Program, Section of Infectious Diseases, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Despite how effective Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is in preventing HIV, uptake among women in sub-Saharan …

Estimating Prep And Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Prevalence In Three High Hiv Burden Countries, Rose Grace Bender

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Understanding the impact of specific biomedical interventions is crucial for optimizing HIV prevention strategies. In this study, we estimate of the prevalence of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) and lay out a framework for estimating preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in the three high-burden sub-Saharan African countries of Malawi, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. For VMMC, we use a cohort-based simulation framework to model circumcision prevalence in all males over time, allocating VMMC count data to cohorts over time. Model outputs are compared with survey and campaign data, and two parameters, the initial background circumcision prevalence and the age distribution of VMMC procedures, …

A Machine Learning Tool For Predicting End-Stage Renal Disease Within One-Year Of Heart Transplantation, Cole Tetsuo Cassady

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) after heart transplantation is a common complicationwhich increases risk of mortality. Simultaneous heart-kidney transplantation (SHKT) lowers this risk. Eligibility for SHKT relies on pre-transplant estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) with ongoing discussion regarding optimal eligibility guidelines. We present an eXtreme Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (XGBoost) machine learning model for predicting ESRD within one year of heart transplant procedure in candidates ineligible for kidney-alone transplantation. The model was trained using readily available elements from pre-transplant evaluation and performed with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.71. The model discrimination was statistically significantly better …

Repurposing Ezetimibe As A Therapeutic For Parkinson's Disease: Evaluating The Therapeutic Potential And Probing For A Mechanism, Brian Hilton

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Neurologic disease is the leading cause of disability globally and Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been the fastest growing neurologic brain disease over the last several decades. Despite the immense burden of PD on patients and society, there has yet to be an efficacious disease-modifying therapy. Investigation of candidate pharmaceuticals that have already been approved by the FDA for other conditions might provide an expedited path to the advent of disease-modifying therapy. There is a rich history of drug repurposing for symptomatic therapy for PD, with amantadine as the preeminent example. In order to identify candidate therapeutics for possible repurposing, an …

Facial Harmony And Gender Congruence: Patient-Reported Outcomes Of Gender-Affirming Facial Surgery Using The Gender-Q And Gpsq, Helia Hosseini

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Background:Gender-affirming facial surgery (GAFS) addresses gender dysphoria by aligning facial features with gender identity, with historical emphasis on refining the upper facial third to render patients more attractive and feminine. The GENDER-Q, a novel patient-reported outcome measure (PROM), evaluates aesthetic, functional, and psychosocial outcomes, complementing the Gender Preoccupation and Stability Questionnaire (GPSQ) to assess effects of GAFS in this study. Methodology: Survey data from 86 patients was analyzed using GENDER-Q and GPSQ scores. Higher GENDER-Q scores indicated improved outcomes, whereas lower GPSQ scores reflected reduced gender dysphoria. Pre- and post-operative outcomes were compared using paired and unpaired t-tests. Spearman’s correlation …

The Deepfake Dilemma: Fake Images, Real Victims, And The Legal Void In Addressing Non-Consensual Deepfake Pornography, Elizabeth A. Safaryn

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Note evaluates the various legal remedies available to victims of non-consensual deepfake pornography. As deepfakes are a relatively new but rapidly advancing technology, it is difficult for the law to keep up with the mass creation and distribution of AI-generated images on the Internet. With the competing interest of constitutionally protected speech, current deepfake laws fail to address non-consensual intimate image sharing (NCII) explicitly and lack the necessary deterrent effect to curb their proliferation. With an initial background on deepfakes and machine learning, this Note then explores the strained relationship between the First Amendment and the available civil remedies …

From Advocacy To Inaction: Paradoxes Of The United States And The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities, Elizabeth W. Raymakers

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Note utilizes an analytical lens to consider why the United States never ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The Note first establishes the history of the CRPD and turns to the history of attempted ratification by the United States. By examining the legislative history of the Convention, as well as the U.S. engagement internationally leading up to and subsequent to the ratification attempts, this Note establishes a more nuanced understanding of the United States’ stance on the CRPD. Subsequently, by applying an analytical framework intended to identify manifestations of support for aspects of international …

Dad On Duty: The Potential Of Paid Parental Leave Laws, Laura E. Bates

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The United States is the only industrialized country in the world that does not guarantee its citizens paid parental leave. While the Family and Medical Leave Act provides some employees up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave, its limitations leave most American parents without adequate support. In the absence of a national paid parental leave system, states are stepping in, enacting laws that provide fully or partially paid parental leave. Private employers are also offering paid parental leave in increasing numbers. Despite these efforts, only 27 percent of private-sector American employees have access to paid parental leave.

Men taking paternity …

Export Controls As Intellectual Property Regulation, Doni Bloomfield

Faculty Scholarship

Export-control laws have long regulated information created outside of the U.S. government. Legal scholars have paid little attention to these national-security laws, and have not recognized that the government uses them specifically to assert a right to suppress information held in patent applications and trade secrets. In this Article, I present a new history of the relationship between export controls and intellectual property to show how the government regulates IP transfers, and how the state uses IP laws to national-security ends. Export-control laws regulate IP by controlling how people in the United States and beyond can share or use inventive …

Sauce For The Gander: The False Symmetry Of Myths And Stereotypes Against The Accused In Sexual Assault Trials, Janine Benedet

Dalhousie Law Journal

As sexual assault laws evolved to be expressed in sex-neutral language, so too have arguments relating to myths and stereotypes in the context of sexual offences. This article evaluates the argument that myths and stereotypes, traditionally a reflection of systemic discrimination against female complainants in rape trials, also operate against male accused. Understood correctly, this trend repackages anti-feminist backlash to early equality reform efforts, ultimately working to revive the belief that women’s accusations of sexual assault are often false. The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R v Kruk affirms that this historical context matters when it comes to claims …