Digital Commons Network^™

Gen Z Hybristophilia: The Role Of Tiktok In Young Women’S Attraction To Deviant Men, Emma Virginia Treggia, Maria Ioannou, Calli Tzani, David Lester, Lucas Rogers, Thomas James Vaughan Williams, John Synnott, Michelle Drouin

Health Services and Informatics Research

This research explores hybristophilia (an individual’s sexual interest in and attraction to those who commit crimes) among Generation Z women, particularly through investigating how Gen Z female users interact with and feel about hybristophilic content and how this content impacts their attraction to offenders. Study 1 involved a content analysis of 66 videos and 91 comments on TikTok, identifying seven main themes: The Halo Effect, Actor-Offender Transference, Sympathy, Romance and APD, Protection and Loyalty, “I Can Fix Him,” Gen Z Irony, and Victim Fantasy. Study 2 used a cross-sectional survey with 95 women aged 18–27 to measure exposure to and …

Insights Into The Floral Senescence Effects Of Nanoparticles, Vuk Uskoković

Administration and Staff Articles and Research

Flowers could be valuable addenda to nanomedicine labs as in vivo models crossing the gap between the cell culture and small mammals. However, as it is shown here, floral models continue to be predominantly utilized within resource-limited research environments and remain largely underrepresented in mainstream biomedical investigations conducted by well-funded institutions in the developed world. The ability to delay the senescence of Orange Jubilee wildflowers was tested here on three types of nanoparticles: selenite-doped hydroxyapatite (HAp), citrate-stabilized HAp, and superparamagnetic iron oxide. Integration of selenite into the HAp crystal lattice produced a mild increase in the senescence rate …

Pluriversal Energy Justice Through An Intersectional Feminist Lens: Analyzing Rural Electrification Injustices And Policy Pathways At Kenya's Garissa Solar Park, Carolyne M. Musyoka

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Located approximately 4 km from Raya village in Garissa County, the Garissa Solar Park spans

85 hectares and was envisioned as a flagship renewable energy project. Yet, despite its scale and proximity, the marginalized pastoralist community of Raya continues to face acute energy poverty, limited irrigation capacity, and exclusion from the material and socio-ecological benefits of the green energy project. This study critically examines the systemic energy injustices embedded within the Garissa Solar Park—specifically procedural, distributive, and recognition-based inequalities—and critiques the project’s failure to deliver on principles of equity, local meaningful and democratic participation, and gender inclusion.

The research assesses …

Securing Americans' Genetic Information: Privacy And National Security Concerns Surrounding 23andme's Bankruptcy Sale. Hearing Before The House Committee On Oversight And Government Reform, United States House Of Representatives, 119th Congress, First Session., Margaret Hu

Congressional Testimony

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Rural Women Of Color Seeking Police Intervention During An Intimate Partner Violence Crisis, Michelle Angelica Perez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Exploring the lived experiences of rural women of color in the United States who seek police intervention during an intimate partner violence crisis is a necessity. In rural regions, many African American and Caribbean Blacks in rural communities endure physical assaults perpetrated by their partners throughout their lives. IPV among women of color, especially the obstacles that they face in requesting police intervention. The findings of this research study provide valuable insights that can support the establishment of intervention centers for rural women of color by involving key stakeholders, such as police departments in these regions. This study used semi-structured …

The Mediating Role Of Intellectual Humility On The Relationship Between Perspective-Taking And Affective Polarization, Daniel Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Affective polarization, a phenomenon characterized by animosity between opposing political parties, has emerged as a growing and intractable problem in the United States. Affective polarization threatens American democracy, as polarized citizens become increasingly unwilling to trust cross-partisans, hold their political leaders accountable, or support the results of free and fair elections. While prior research has investigated the mitigating effect of intellectual humility and perspective-taking on affective polarization, researchers have yet to investigate whether intellectual humility and perspective-taking work synergistically to mitigate affective polarization. Informed by social identity theory, this quantitative study determined if intellectual humility mediated the relationship between perspective-taking …

Sickle Cell Disease Induces Chromatin Introversion And Ferroptosis In Cd8+ T Cells To Suppress Anti-Tumor Immunity, Zilong Zhao, Benxia Hu, Yalan Deng, Melinda Soeung, Jun Yao, Lanxin Bei, Yaohua Zhang, Pengju Gong, Lisa A Huang, Zhou Jiang, Jian Gao, Shuang Peng, Tina K Nguyen, Menuka Karki, Bora Lim, Cassian Yee, Jared K Burks, Qing Zhang, Li Ma, Jianjun Gao, Nizar M Tannir, Leng Han, Dihua Yu, Linghua Wang, Michael A Curran, Maria A Gubbiotti, Giannicola Genovese, Boyi Gan, Wenbo Li, Pavlos Msaouel, Liuqing Yang, Chunru Lin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Understanding how genetic disorders affect CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment is key to improving cancer immunotherapy. Individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD), the most prevalent inherited blood disorder, have a higher risk of developing certain cancers than the general population, but the mechanisms driving this increased risk remain unclear. Our study revealed that SCD altered CD8+ T cell 3D genome architecture, triggering ferroptosis and weakening anti-tumor immunity, thereby promoting tumor growth. Using murine and humanized SCD models, we found that disrupted chromosomal interactions in CD8+ T cells reduced the expression of anti-ferroptotic genes, including SLC7A11 and hydrogen sulfide …

Arid4b: An Orchestrator From Stem Cell Fate To Carcinogenesis, Rakhee Rathnam Kalari Kandy, Madan Kumar Arumugam, Mukesh Pratap Yadav, Bibhuti Bhusan Mishra, Jyotika Sharma

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

All biological processes, from embryonic development to cancer, are tightly controlled by the interactions between genetics and epigenetics. An array of epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, histone/chromatin modifications, and noncoding RNA-mediated targeting, are essential to regulate the heritable changes that occur during multiple cellular processes. A failure in proper regulation results in inappropriate gene expression that ultimately leads to pathological states. Groundbreaking advances in genomics and transcriptomics have revealed the potential involvement of epigenetics in various physiological and pathological states. The promising clinical and preclinical results shown by epigenetics drugs further underscore the central role of epigenetics in multiple …

Modeling And Simulation Of Tensegrity Structures With Continuous Cables, Austin R. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a novel approach for modeling and simulating tensegrity structures with continuous cables. A Python-based simulation framework package was developed to address limitations in existing tensegrity modeling software, particularly the inability to model cables passing through multiple nodes. The framework utilizes virtual work methods to solve for equilibrium configurations of 2D, 2.5D and 3D tensegrity systems. Key features include: • A YAML-based input system for easy definition of tensegrity topologies. • Algorithms for handling continuous cables spanning multiple nodes. • Optimization techniques to find stable equilibrium states. • Capability to simulate 2.5D structures wrapped around cylindrical surfaces. • …

2025 Hillsborough County Agricultural Fair 4-H Animal Shows, Carrie A. Finke

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Feasibility Of Using Virtual Reality With Children With Autism, Gemma Leighton

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the feasibility and social validity of teenagers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using a virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display (HMD). VR is emerging as a promising tool for teaching and therapeutic intervention among ASD. Therefore, this study serves to contribute to the field's development by comprehensively evaluating the accessibility for young people with ASD to independently using a VR HMD in a meaningful way. Five teenagers participated (four female, aged 13-15, with mild and mild to moderate support needs) and independently completed tutorials in a virtual environment when learning to operate the VR HMD controllers and hand-tracking …

Semitic Root Encoding: Tokenization Based On The Templatic Morphology Of Semitic Languages In Nmt, Brendan T. Hatch

Theses and Dissertations

The morphological structure of Semitic languages like Arabic and Hebrew is based on non-concatenative roots and templates. This complex word structure used by humans is obscured to neural models that use traditional tokenization algorithms. In this work, I present and evaluate Semitic Root Encoding (SRE), a tokenization method that represents Semitic words with distinct root and template stem tokens, and apply it to neural machine translation (NMT). I evaluate whether tokenization with the SRE method leads to increases in translation quality, whether it allows NMT models to hypothesize unseen word forms needed at inference, and how impervious resulting NMT models …

Structural Basis For The Substrate Specificity Of Helix Pomatia Amp Deaminase And A Chimeric Adgf Adenosine Deaminase, Gundeep Kaur, John R Horton, George Tzertzinis, Jujun Zhou, Ira Schildkraut, Xiaodong Cheng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Helix pomatia AMP deaminase (HPAMPD), an enzyme enriched in the foot muscle of the mollusk H. pomatia, exhibits deaminase activity on adenosine-5'-monophosphate (AMP). HPAMPD is the first member of the adenosine deaminase-related growth factor (ADGF) family to prefer the nucleotide AMP over the nucleoside adenosine. To investigate the substrate selectivity of HPAMPD, we determined its structure in both the apo form and in complex with the adenosine analogs pentostatin and pentostatin-5'-monophosphate. Structurally, HPAMPD adopts a fold similar to human ADA2, an ADGF family member. HPAMPD has acquired the ability to interact with the 5'-monophosphate group of AMP through polar and …

Symbiotic International Law: Combatting Uyghur Forced Labor, Preston Jordan Lim

Faculty Publications

Since 2017, the Chinese government has launched a campaign of repression against the Muslim Turkic minorities of Xinjiang, a region located in China’s Northwest. While most scholars have focused on the mass internment of Uyghurs and other minorities, this Article highlights an under-discussed aspect of China’s campaign: the construction of a sophisticated forced labor system. Minority forced labor supplies key sectors of the global economy—from the automotive to the energy sectors—and allows Chinese companies to outcompete foreign firms. The unprecedented scope and sophistication of what I term the “modern Xinjiang forced labor system” imperils the very future of the international …

Leveraging An Arts-Based Approach To Foster Engagement, Nurture Kindness, And Prevent Violence, Yok-Fong Paat, Diego Garcia Tovar, Nathan W. Myers, Max C. E. Orezzoli, Anne M. Giangiulio, Sarah L. Ruiz, Angela V. Dorado, Luis R. Torres-Hostos

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Drawing from the insights of community partners, this study explored the roles and benefits of arts-based approaches to foster civic learning, critical media literacy, and community engagement. It also uncovered approaches to promote kindness, prevent violence, and combat online extremism, offering insights into strategies that may enhance community engagement and create a positive impact. We presented our model framework, a detailed case study of our project, and qualitative methods incorporating 15 interviews with our community partners to capture a broad range of perspectives and experiences. Interviewees were community partners who collaborated with our project in organizing events and activities using …

Real Estate Board Of New York, Inc. V. The City Of New York

All Decisions

The court denied a preliminary injunction against New York City's FARE Act, which shifts broker fee payment from tenants to landlords. The judge granted in part the City's motion to dismiss, striking down plaintiffs' First Amendment, New York State Constitution, and state law preemption claims. However, the Contracts Clause claim was allowed to proceed. The court emphasized that it cannot overturn legislation based on policy disagreements.

Plan Mano Dura: A Punctuated Political Act? Addressing Gang Violence In El Salvador, Carlos A. Arias

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

On July 23, 2003, Salvadoran President Francisco Flores introduced a punitive and militaristic gang-prevention measure, Plan Mano Dura (Plan Iron Fist), in an attempt to solve the gang phenomenon plaguing El Salvador. Although it turned out to be an abject policy failure, its future effects and significance would far outweigh its intended impact, essentially dictating how El Salvador would combat gang violence for the next 20 years and beyond. As such, it is essential to better understand how such an ineffective policy could arise as a policy approach. This paper examines whether Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET) can account for the …

How The U.S. Can Protect Taiwan In The 21st Century, Zachary Surmacz

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

What U.S. policy would deescalate cross-strait tensions, while maintaining Taiwan’s security? This article is supported by the information and perspectives received from 12, one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with a variety of thought leaders in Taiwan. The goal of this proposal is to provide policymakers in the United States with a path for protecting Taiwan, while responsibly managing the U.S.-China relationship. The paper begins with a short background of the complex policy problem facing Taiwan and a review of the current official U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity." The article then provides an evaluation of the U.S. policy by comparing its stated goals …

Evaluating The Elder Justice Act: Challenges In Funding, Implementation, And Coalition Dynamics, Annabelle Weberg

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

The Elder Justice Act (EJA) was a significant policy that passed in 2010 as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The goal of the EJA was to provide public health and social service programs for preventing, detecting, and treating elder abuse. Due to limited federal discretionary spending, most programs authorized under the Elder Justice Act have not been fully funded or implemented as intended.

The paper seeks to answer this research question: What has caused the limited funding and implementation of the Elder Justice Act, and what role have coalitions played? It analyzes the factors that have …

Parallel Use Of Low-Complexity Automated Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests And Lateral Flow Urine Lipoarabinomannan Assays To Detect Tuberculosis Disease In Adults And Adolescents Living With Hiv, Stephanie Bjerrum, Bada Yang, Johanna Åhsberg, Laura Olbrich, Mathias Weis Damkjær, Ruvandhi R Nathavitharana, Tobias Broger, Ioana Diana Olaru, Brittney Sweetser, Hayley Poore, Alia Razid, Alexander W Kay, Claudia M Denkinger, Ian Schiller, Nandini Dendukuri, Devan Jaganath, Andreas Lundh, Maunank Shah

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Low-complexity automated nucleic acid amplification tests (LC-aNAATs) are molecular World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended rapid diagnostic tests (also known as mWRDs) widely used to diagnose tuberculosis disease. The lateral flow urine lipoarabinomannan assay (LF-LAM) is recommended by the WHO to assist in diagnosing tuberculosis disease amongst people with HIV. Previous systematic reviews have assessed the diagnostic accuracy of LC-aNAATs and LF-LAM used in isolation for the detection of tuberculosis, but in clinical practice the tests may be used in parallel (i.e. LC-aNAAT in combination with LF-LAM).

Objectives: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of the parallel use of LC-aNAAT on respiratory …

A Fifty-Year Assessment Of Historical Planning Processes And Green Space Distribution (1975-2025): A Case Study Of Portland, Or, Usa, Quadri Olatunbosun Taiwo

Dissertations and Theses

The Portland study examined past planning regulations and greenspace distribution over the period of fifty years, with particular attention given to neighborhood differences between invested and non-invested neighborhoods. This research utilized a mixed-methods approach through the synthesis of qualitative themes from oral narratives and archival records. Furthermore, I examined spatial greenspace using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) imagery. I tested the study hypothesis using the GIS Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression test to predict how key sociodemographic characteristics affect the provision of greenspace in non-white disinvested neighborhoods. The key findings indicated a consistent trend of inequity in greenspace, heavily shaped …

Comparative Analysis Of Matrix Factorization And Neural Collaborative Filtering For Movie Recommendation Systems, Mahyar Alinejad

Data Science and Data Mining

This paper presents a comparative study of two recommendation system approaches for predicting movie ratings: Matrix Factorization with Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) optimization and Neural Collaborative Filtering (NCF) using Tensor Flow. The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of these methods in recommending movies to users based on the MovieLens 100K dataset. The Matrix Factorization approach utilizes latent features to model user preferences and item characteristics, optimizing parameters through SGD. On the other hand, NCF integrates traditional collaborative filtering with neural networks to capture complex user-item interactions. Experimental results demonstrate the performance of both models in terms of Root Mean …

Effects Of Elevated Temperatures On Tooth Structure During Polymerization Of Composite Resin With A Variety Of Light Sources, Enas G. Yonis

Al-Bahir

This study investigated the impact of high temperatures on dental tissues during the polymerization of optical fillings using a diode laser and two types of pulsed and continuous LED devices. Three distinct light source units were employed: a laser diode, an LEDition, and a LED.B. Temperature increases were measured at a distance of 1 mm from the thermocouple to the tip of the device. To create an experimental model, we fixed the operational voltage of the polymerization device and maintained a 1 mm gap between the terminal and the thermocouple wire. Temperature readings and thermal background (TO) measurements were taken …

The Rhetoric Of Responsibilization: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Campaigns For Hiv Prevention, Catherine M. Pabalate

Kentucky Undergraduate Journal for the Health Humanities

Responsibilization refers to the process by which patients are made accountable for their health and wellbeing, which is determined by their habits and behaviors. Though responsibilization affords greater agency to patients, it can also result in anxiety and guilt when the patient appears "deviant" or "noncompliant." Because sexual behavior is attributed to the causality of HIV/AIDS, patients’ sexual patterns and choices are included within their medical decision-making. This rhetorical analysis focuses on pharmaceutical campaigns and commercials for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which were released between 2012 and 2024 and are targeted towards patients at-risk for HIV/AIDS. Findings suggest that specific rhetorical …

Across Generations Of Time: Institutional Memory And Individual Memory Of The Kwangju Uprising Regarding The Hong Family, Seung Hong

Undergraduate Honors Theses

On May 18, 1980, the Kwangju Uprising took place in Kwangju, a city in the Chŏlla province of South Korea. Though it was initially a student demonstration against Chun Doo Hwan’s martial law, it grew to involve thousands of Kwangju civilians who united to fight against vicious paratroopers and Chun’s unjust rule. After nine days, state troops recaptured Kwangju and arrested the remaining demonstrators. Years later, as a response to popular demand, the South Korean government compensated victims and began celebrating May 18 as a turning point for democracy in the nation. The institutional memory of the Kwangju Uprising has …

Llm Music Creation And Recommendation Applications, Curtis Robinson, Allan Yang, Thomas Liu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

This thesis explores the application of large language models (LLMs) in music analysis, creation, and interaction, focusing on their potential to reshape traditional workflows in the music domain. The study begins by contextualizing the role of artificial intelligence in music technology, particularly emphasizing the emergence of LLMs like GPT and their unique capabilities in multimodal and musical contexts. A comprehensive survey of current research and toolsets highlights both creative and analytical implementations, ranging from text-based music generation to music information retrieval. The core contribution is an experimental framework that integrates LLMs with music processing libraries, enabling novel interactions such as …

First Generation Graduate Student Experiences, Andrew Torres

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to gain a better understanding of the experiences, inspiration, motivations, and varying aspects of what it is to be a first- generation master’s level student. Throughout the 2024-2025 academic year, I conducted interviews with three first-generation undergraduate students, three first-generation graduate students, and two first-generation postgraduate professionals at a single university to understand how their higher education experiences were similar and different. I pursued this research topic to understand further what resources graduate students used and which were lacking for their needs. The pursuit motivated me to discover why there was such …

Sideque$T, Akshay Nichani, Anusha Kankipati, Afra Mahammad, Lucas Jablon

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

In recent years, the gap between traditional education and the current labor market has widened dramatically: in 2024, 11. 5 % of California’s 16-24 year olds were neither in school nor employed, alongside a net decline of roughly 3 million students nationwide in the last decade and more than 4 million members of Generation Z left the job despite having conventional degrees. These trends underscore a growing disconnect between academic credentials and market-ready skills and a pressing need for alternative pathways to gainful work. We introduce SIDEQUE$T, a secure, user-friendly online marketplace engineered to bridge this divide. By allowing job …

Hidden In Plain Sight: Community-Based Human Trafficking Prevention During Major International Events, Jordan Leeds

Criminology and Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

Human trafficking is a pervasive and persistent global problem, affecting almost every nation. The United Nations developed a standard known as the Palermo Protocol that provides a comprehensive definition and international strategy for criminalizing and punishing trafficking offenders. This protocol defines human trafficking in terms of its act, means, and purpose. Human trafficking can take on many contexts, such as sex, labor, or servitude, but is uniformly concerned with exploiting individuals, usually from vulnerable populations, for personal profit. The unique characteristics of international sporting events, including increased demand for services, time-sensitive labor needs, and reduced oversight, create conditions for human …

Building And Demonstrating A Framework And Guide For Human-Centered Threat Modeling, Warda Usman

Theses and Dissertations

As researchers increasingly seek to understand threats faced by people rather than systems, there remains little consensus on how to study these threats in ways that are grounded in human experience. Traditional approaches to threat modeling are often designed for system vulnerabilities and offer limited guidance for eliciting or analyzing threats as understood by individuals in their social and cultural contexts. This dissertation addresses this gap by advancing human-centered threat modeling (HCTM) in security and privacy research as both a conceptual framework and through a set of empirical studies. The dissertation employs a mixed set of qualitative methods across four …