Digital Commons Network^™

Dancing For The People: A Culturally Grounded Learning-To-Rank Framework For Powwow Dance Evaluation, Avery C. Sutherland

Computer Science Senior Theses

Powwow dance is a form of Indigenous expression that combines movement, storytelling, regalia, and community values. Within competition powwows, dancers are evaluated through a highly subjective judging process that often lacks standardized criteria, creating challenges for consistency, transparency, and fairness. This work investigates whether a learning-to-rank framework can model subjective powwow dance preferences while remaining grounded in the cultural context of the practice. To support this research, a new dataset was constructed consisting of 19 Women's Fancy Shawl dancer profiles and 236 pairwise preference labels collected from experienced members of the powwow community. Each dancer profile combines textual descriptions, images, …

Holistic Strategies For Optimizing Municipal It Operations And Cost Efficiency, Joseph Yazdanpanahi

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

Municipalities work to deliver secure and impactful IT (information technology) services while often working within tight budget constraints. To address this problem, this article offers an experience-based and comprehensive framework to optimize municipal IT operations. It emphasizes leveraging automation, streamlining hardware and software management, and forging strategic partnerships to drive cost savings and efficiency gains. Designed to equip municipal IT leaders with practical tools and insights, this article aims to help modernize IT processes.

Residential Ai Data Centers: Security, Privacy, And Governance Concerns, Alan Saquella

Publications

The concept of placing mini data centers and distributed AI computer nodes inside residential homes may appear innovative from an energy efficiency perspective, but it introduces significant security, privacy, governance, and liability concerns. What is effectively occurring is the expansion of commercial and potentially critical infrastructure into lightly protected residential environments.

Once a residence becomes part of a distributed computer grid supporting hyper-scalers, AI providers, or enterprise workloads, the home is no longer simply a private residence. It becomes a commercial technology asset, a potential cyber target, and even a physical target. A distributed network of thousands of residential nodes …

Wearable Hazard Detection System For The Visually Impaired, Nolan Daly, Sergio Diaz, Brandon Ng

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

This project presents a wearable assistive system designed to help blind or visually impaired people navigate their surroundings more safely. The system uses a Raspberry Pi 5 connected to Camera Module 3 (NoIR Wide) sensors to capture a wide field of view. Real-time object detection is performed using a lightweight YOLOv8 model, and a redundancy-based merging algorithm combines detections across cameras to improve reliability. By requiring agreement between multiple cameras, the system reduces false positives and increases confidence in identifying obstacles.

The device is designed to operate in real time and provide reliable feedback about nearby hazards, helping users make …

Character Demographic Assessment In An Academic Library's Graphic Novel Collection: Implications For Collection Development, Bridgette L. Whitt

The Southeastern Librarian

This article presents an analysis of the main character demographics across a graphic novel collection housed at the Paul Meek Library, University of Tennessee at Martin. The study evaluates the presence of specific identified character traits such as race, ethnicity, ability, emotional or psychological themes, and the settings of the 451 evaluated titles. The assessment also evaluates the genre distribution of fiction, nonfiction, and biographical content and how often the novels were set outside of the United States. The goal of this study was to better understand the narrative scope and representation within the graphic novel collection, with a focus …

Building Community At An Academic Library With Bilingual Story Trails, Laura Bright, Janice S. Lewis

The Southeastern Librarian

A story trail is an activity that combines exercise and literacy as visitors read sequentially displayed book pages while walking. Story trails are often set up outdoors along existing paths and feature rotating selections of children’s picture books. Many story trails are set up and maintained by community groups, public libraries, or schools. Academic libraries can use story trails as opportunities to promote literacy, foster a sense of local community, support families, and encourage healthy habits. The authors of this article use City of Greenville (North Carolina) StoryWalks® created by staff at East Carolina University’s Joyner Library as an example …

Stomp (The Student Organization Management Portal), Lindsey Leong, Madeline Follosco, Noelle Evanich, Irene Chang

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

At Santa Clara University, the Center for Student Involvement (CSI) leads to support hundreds of student-led organizations with different audiences and ambitions, but all aim to bring students together nonetheless. However, such development regarding student organization management proves to be much harder when administrative processes are decentralized and cumbersome, often involving numerous layers of manual work and departmental bottlenecks. Restructuring and optimizing administrative workflows would entail more energy towards the growth of student life at Santa Clara University.

The Student Organization Management Portal, or StOMP, is a web application that aims to centralize and optimize student organization-related processes, as well …

The Influence Of Social Media Messaging On Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Attitudes And Confidence Among Adolescent Males: Group Discussion Study, Neha Trivedi, Rachel Van Vleet, Czesia Eid, Amelia Burke-Garcia, Amy Leader

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Despite the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine being available to males for the past 12 years, adolescent males continue to lag in HPV vaccine uptake due to a variety of factors. With the ubiquitous nature of social media use among this population, further research is needed to improve HPV vaccine confidence among young adolescent males using these platforms.

OBJECTIVE: Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), this study sought to better understand knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about HPV and HPV vaccination among male adolescents aged 14-17 years and examine how social media messaging influences vaccine perceptions and explore the characteristics of …

Maya Roots, Erin Schmidt, Megu Kanzawa

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

This project focused on the continued development of Maya Roots, a mobile and web-based platform designed for farmers in Tahcabo: a rural agricultural community located in Yucatán, Mexico. Yucatán faces unique agricultural challenges due to its karst limestone terrain and highly variable land conditions that can significantly impact farming outcomes. At the same time, traditional agricultural knowledge such as Milpa farming practices is increasingly at risk of being lost across generations. These environmental and cultural challenges highlighted the need for a portable, accessible system that could preserve agricultural knowledge, improve access to geospatial information, and strengthen communication between farmers and …

Dual Language Immersion In Utah Schools: Examining Experiences And Access To Improve Sustainability, Melissa Catherine Jensen Kimball

Theses and Dissertations

Dual language immersion (DLI) programs can impact students in many ways. Multiple researchers have studied the effects of these programs and have found numerous benefits. However, there is little published information on the actual experiences of individuals in schools with a DLI program, including those who are involved in the program and those who were a part of DLI school communities but not directly involved in the program. A. Hawks, J. Rowley, D. Stovall, and their respective thesis and dissertation committees created a survey to better understand the current perspectives of administrators, parents, teachers, and other school staff on these …

2026-06-03 Suurj-Ing Into The Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal’S Tenth Edition, Keagen Brooks-Torres

The Spectator Online

No abstract provided.

2026-06-03 Saying Goodbye To The Spectator’S Graduating Editors, Dylan Berman

The Spectator Online

No abstract provided.

2026-06-03 Maybe We Should Take Less Pictures: On Photography And Possession, Hannah Mwangi

The Spectator Online

No abstract provided.

2026-06-03 Discussing Hate Speech And Freedom Of Expression With Caitlin Carlson, Kaitlyn Delfs

The Spectator Online

No abstract provided.

The Sustainable Autonomy Framework: Explaining Autonomy In Aceh And Southern Yemen, Abdulsalam Saad, Arie Kusuma Paksi

Jurnal Politik

This article examines why post-conflict autonomy consolidates into durable self-governance in some cases while remaining fragile and externally dependent in others. While Aceh has maintained stable self-governance since the 2005 Helsinki Agreement, Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council remains a fragmented authority sustained by external patronage. To explain this divergence, the article develops the Sustainable Autonomy Framework (SAF) and asks: under what conditions does post-conflict autonomy become viable and sustainable? The SAF argues that durability depends on the alignment of three mutually reinforcing pillars: elite legitimacy, resource sovereignty, and mediation credibility. Using a most-similar systems comparison of Aceh’s Free Aceh Movement and …

Winddensity-Mbir: Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction For Wind Tunnel 3d Density Estimation, Karl J. Weisenburger, Gregery T. Buzzard, Charles A. Bouman, Matthew R. Kemnetz

Faculty Publications

Experimentalists often use wind tunnels to study aerodynamic turbulence, but most wind tunnel imaging techniques are limited in their ability to take non-invasive three-dimensional (3D) density measurements of turbulence. Wavefront tomography is a technique that uses multiple wavefront measurements from various viewing angles to non-invasively measure the 3D density field of a turbulent medium. Existing methods make strong assumptions, such as a spline basis representation, to address the ill-conditioned nature of this problem. We formulate this problem as a Bayesian, sparse-view tomographic reconstruction problem and develop a model-based iterative reconstruction algorithm for measuring the volumetric 3D density field inside a …

Dental Educators' Perceptions Of Factors Contributing To Their Well‐Being—A Qualitative Study, M. Powell, Y. Howell, S. Anishchuk, S. Bhatia

Peninsula Dental School

BackgroundStress levels within academic institutions are high and have continued to rise over recent decades. This can have a detrimental impact on the well-being of dental educators and puts them at a risk of burnout. It is vital to explore the factors that affect the well-being of staff and identify solutions to inform the development of strategies for the promotion of well-being.MethodsParticipants attending the ADEE annual conference were invited to participate in a qualitative study using focus group discussions to explore this topic. Prompts for the four focus group discussions were identified from quantitative data collected in an earlier study …

Life Without Oxygen: Cellular Mechanisms Enabling Genome Maintenance And Proliferation In Cells From An Anoxia-Tolerant Vertebrate, Riley Asa Roth-Carter

Dissertations and Theses

When exposed to the complete loss of oxygen (anoxia) most organisms undergo rapid cellular deterioration driven by a range of metabolic dysfunctions associated with the loss of the terminal electron acceptor for aerobic respiration. This loss of ability to create and maintain necessary levels of cellular ATP through oxidative phosphorylation contributes to loss of membrane potentials, increase in the accumulation of acidic by-products of anaerobic metabolism, and a decrease in the ability to support other molecular processes that rely on a steady supply of ATP. While this extreme oxygen stress is lethal to a majority of vertebrate organisms there are …

Autoregulation Of Three Yeast Ribosomal Protein Genes By Splicing Inhibition, David Granas, Anirudh Kesanapally, Michael A White, Gary D Stormo

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Yeast ribosomal protein genes RPL18B, RPL28, and RPS22B are autoregulated by inhibition of splicing. This is demonstrated by inserting their introns into a chromosomal copy of GFP and observing repression upon induction of the cognate protein. In RPL18B and RPS22B, a predicted conserved secondary structure within the intron is required for regulation, while in RPL28, it is not.

Complement Activation In Maternal And Placental Pathology Of Preeclampsia, Manu T Banadakoppa, Madhulatha S Chauhan, Moises J Tacam, Allyson W Nevins, Antonio H Ruano, Simone H Ruano, Jon A Fuson, Chandra Yallampalli

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Preeclampsia is a multifactorial, pregnancy-related disorder characterized by new-onset hypertension and proteinuria, with distinct early- and late-onset forms. Although complement dysregulation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia, its causal role remains unclear. In mice, Crry (complement receptor 1-related protein Y) functions as a critical complement regulator at the fetal-maternal interface. Because complete Crry deficiency is embryonically lethal, direct in vivo investigation of complement activation in pregnancy has been challenging.

Methods: We generated a placenta-specific, doxycycline-inducible short hairpin RNA mouse model in which Crry expression can be downregulated in a dose-dependent manner. This system employs Cyp19-driven Cre recombinase …

Cytosine Base Editing Of Lpa In Transgenic Mice Averts Large Deletions, Marcel A Chuecos, So Hyun Park, Madhvi M Bhakta, Usosa Too-Chiobi, Daniel Betancourth, Mingming Cao, Marco De Giorgi, Christopher J Walkey, Anjana Tiwari, Biana Godin, Julia M Assini, Donna J Palmer, Philip Ng, Michael B Boffa, Marlys L Koschinsky, Gang Bao, William R Lagor

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) is a genetically determined causal risk factor for cardiovascular disease, with approximately 20% of the population exhibiting elevated levels. While there are promising drugs in development, there are currently no approved therapies specifically designed to lower Lp(a) levels. For high-risk individuals with extreme levels of Lp(a), liver-directed genome editing could be an effective one-time solution. Genome editing approaches such as CRISPR and TALENs can reduce Lp(a) in LPA-transgenic mouse models, but they frequently induce large and potentially harmful genomic deletions. Here, we report the first application of TadA-derived cytosine base editing (CBE), delivered via helper-dependent adenovirus (HDAdV) and …

Defining The Dynamic Role Of Belongingness In Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment, Brendan E. Walsh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drinking is intertwined with social processes, including social support and group belongingness. Although drinking can transiently enhance social functioning, escalating to heavy use can be detrimental to it. It is well-known that excessive drinking and social dysfunction exacerbate each other over time, and it follows that social support and belonging are key mechanisms of addiction recovery. Yet, less is known about how changes in belongingness throughout treatment dynamically affect drinking outcomes, and even less is known about how drinking outcomes and other social processes (e.g., therapeutic alliance, interpersonal drinking consequences) dynamically influence belongingness. The current project (N = 210) studied …

You Must Be This Tall To Scroll: California's Questionable Approach To Parenting By Policy, Caroline M. Cuddy

Pace Law Review

This note examines California's Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976), signed into law in September 2024, which prohibits personalized algorithmic feeds on minors' accounts without pa- rental consent and restricts platform notifications during school hours and nighttime. Drawing on the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association and related federal litigation, this note argues that SB 976 is unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Specifically, SB 976 is underinclusive because it fails to meaning- fully reduce minors' screen time, exempts comparable addictive plat- forms, and permits the very algorithmic feeds it deems harmful upon parental …

Blurred Lines: Did Booker Change Federal Sentencing Outcomes?, Hugh M. Mundy

Pace Law Review

This article considers whether United States v. Booker, the 2005 Supreme Court decision that replaced the then-mandatory federal sentencing guidelines system with an advisory scheme, had any enduring impact on sentencing outcomes. Commemorating Booker’s recent twentieth anniversary requires a balancing act: at once, recognizing the decision’s watershed impact while avoiding claims of lasting change where little exists. The criminal defense community hailed the ruling as a kind of liberation from the guidelines’ dispassionate rigidity. Today, while most lawyers and defendants would still prefer the current system, a legitimate question exists about Booker’s actual effect on federal sentencing. I propose that …

Daydreaming: How Far Can We Go?, Abigail Toribio

Writing Waves

No abstract provided.

An Obituary For Language, Judah Williams

Writing Waves

No abstract provided.

Production Managers / Policy Commissioners Statements

Writing Waves

No abstract provided.

Managing Editor Statement 2026, Cody Roberts

Writing Waves

No abstract provided.

The War For American Independence Was Biblical And Just*, Mark David Hall

Journal of Law and Government

In his essay, Mark David Hall presents an overview of Christian scholarship on the question of whether the War for American Independence is biblical and just. He then considers Romans 13 and shows that Protestants, especially Calvinists, came to interpret these verses to permit active resistance to tyrannical rulers. Finally, he discusses the conflict in light of the just war tradition and contends that the patriots had excellent reasons to believe their active resistance was biblical and just.

Introducing The Covenantal-Noncentralization Index (Cni) For Assessing Localism, Social Capital, Community Challenges And Community Health, Kahlib Fischer, Edwin Christmann, Melissa Stewart, Todd Robatin, Zachary Federico, John Kebles, Lucy Lambert, Alex Mishra

Journal of Law and Government

Numerous indices measuring social capital and community challenges at the local level exist, but none attempt to offer a measure of community health as an independent variable in comparison to community challenges as a dependent variable. Therefore, we propose the Covenantal-Noncentralization Index (CNI) in an effort to provide a more nuanced understanding of social capital at the local level as well as to differentiate between an independent variable index consisting of family stability, religious adherence, non-profit activity, and charitable giving and dependent variables representing various community challenges: violent crime, childhood poverty, STD rate, high school diploma completion, GDP, and unemployment. …