Digital Commons Network^™

Stronger Together: Healing Through Joy, Archana Banda, Nupur S. Kumar

be Still

Volunteering as Family Pals at Boggy Creek throughout medical school has reinforced the profound impact of communities united under a shared vision of uplifting one another. This organization cultivates a supportive camp environment for children with chronic medical conditions. One of the most meaningful aspects of these weekend adventures has been meeting children with conditions such as Type 1 Diabetes and VACTERL courageously navigating the challenges of their diagnoses while discovering new passions through activities including woodcraft, air hockey, boating, fishing, and archery.

Many times these children are excluded from normal camp experiences due to their special needs such as …

A Community That Always Welcomes Me Back Like I Never Left, Bibi Chaterpateah

be Still

No abstract provided.

Hiv-1 Tat-Driven Glutamate Dysregulation: Implications For Cognitive Impairment In Hand, Brenna Duffy, Michael Nonnemacher, Sandhya Kortagere

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: HIV-1-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) manifest in 15% to 50% of people with HIV, impairing learning and memory and executive function. The chronic generation of HIV-1 Transactivator of transcription (Tat) likely contributes to HAND via direct neuronal toxicity and glial-mediated toxicity. This review summarizes our current understanding of how chronic Tat generation from microglia and astrocytes promote glutamate excitotoxicity.

RECENT FINDINGS: In recent years, the indirect effects of Tat through the activation of glial cells have gained significant interest. This review highlights microglia and astrocytes as HIV-1 reservoirs that release Tat protein in the central nervous system. Specific …

(Re)Claiming Homeplace: Dance As Embodied Resistance & Healing For Health & Spatial Justice, Preeya G. Kannan

University Honors Theses

This thesis argues that dance functions as both an upstream public health intervention and a form of radical spatial resistance; creating healing, agency, and belonging among historically marginalized communities. Drawing on bell hooks' concept of homeplace, Jasbir Puar's assemblage theory, Nancy Krieger's eco-social theory, and Katherine McKittrick's Black geographies, I position the body as both an ecological and political landscape shaped by histories of colonialism, racial capitalism, displacement, and resilience.

Through this community-based participatory research study, Homeplace, I explore dance as a form of social prescription that centers liberation rather than pathology. Movement is often reduced in public health discourse …

A Stylistic Linguistic Study Of Alliteration And Assonance In Selected Poems, Lina Salam Farouq

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

This research paper investigates the use of alliteration and assonance as major sound devices in poetry, concentrating on their stylistic and aesthetic functions in selected poetic texts. Sound patterns such as the repetition of consonant sounds (alliteration) and vowel sounds (assonance) play a vital role in shaping rhythm, musicality, and meaning in poetic language. The study aims to identify these phonological features and analyze how they contribute to the artistic structure and emotional impact of the poems. The research adopts a stylistic and statistical approach, examining the distribution and frequency of alliteration and assonance in two poems: The …

Extending Unibreak: Semantic Retrieval And Harmful-Intent Direction Suppression For Token-Level Llm Jailbreaking, Sanket Saha

Master’s Dissertations

Token-level adversarial perturbations remain one of the most efficient known attacks against the safety alignment of instruction-tuned large language models (LLMs). Among recent works, the UniBreak framework (You et al., 2026) stands out for unifying gradient-based optimization with an evolutionary perturbation repository. However, its repository relies solely on accumulated success frequency without utilizing query content, and its fitness function implicitly assumes that suppressing refusal tokens is sufficient to elicit harmful responses. In this dissertation, we extend UniBreak along both axes and re-evaluates the framework under stricter generalization and judgment protocols. Specifically, we introduce a semantic perturbation repository that replaces frequency-only …

Perceptions Of Teachers In Inuit Nunangat On The Benefits Of Life-Promotional Activities On Inuit Youth To Reduce Suicide In Nunavut, Aramide Owoaje

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Exploring Workplace Wellness Programs From A Correctional Officer’S Perspective, Lolita Jeaneen Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

The Experiences Of College Students Facing Housing And Financial Insecurity, Nora Shaheen

University Honors Theses

Housing and financial insecurity among college students continues to be a growing crisis, yet their lived experiences are often overlooked. This thesis utilizes qualitative research to investigate the emotional, social, and academic experiences of students navigating housing and financial instability. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with six current/former college students who have experience with housing and financial insecurities. During the analysis, recurring patterns were grouped into themes, including the triggers of instability (familial abandonment, rent increases, relationship dissolution, etc), social stigma and internalized shame, emotional and mental health costs, social isolation, survival strategies, food insecurity, work-school balance, disrupted …

Transforming Dredged Sediment Into Reactive Clay: Critical Review Of Calcination, Reactivity, And Sustainable Valorization As Supplementary Cementitious Material, Seongho Han, Sanghwon Wi, Koochul Ji, Keun Hyeok Yang, Farshad Rajabipour, Kamal H. Khayat, Jinyoung Yoon

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Dredged sediment (DS) is generated worldwide in large volumes through routine port and waterway maintenance, yet its disposal presents environmental and economic challenges. Recently, calcined dredged sediment (CDS) has emerged as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM), offering a viable alternative to traditional SCMs, such as fly ash and slag cement. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics of raw DS and pretreatment strategies aimed at dewatering, organic matter removal, and contaminant stabilization. The effects of calcination on the production of reactive amorphous aluminosilicates are also discussed. Emphasis is placed on physicochemical changes revealed by experimental …

Simultaneous Tumor Delineation And Report Generation From Brain Mr Images, Adish Mallik

Master’s Dissertations

Brain tumor analysis is an important application of medical image computing, where accurate segmentation and interpretation of tumor regions can support diagnosis and treatment planning. However, existing methods often address tumor segmentation and radiology report generation as separate tasks. Moreover, one of the major challenges in report generation tasks from MRI is accurate tumor localization. Most models fail to locate the lobe and hemisphere in which the tumor is located, causing incorrect report generation. In this regard, a unified 3D vision-language framework is proposed for simultaneous brain tumor segmentation and report generation from multi-modal MRI. Given T1, T2, T1C, and …

Intrusive Advising Practices And Community College Credential Attainment In Rural Students, Leslie Reeder

College of Education

This qualitative narrative study addressed the persistent problem of lower postsecondary completion rates among rural students, particularly first-generation students, whose lower educational attainment contributes to economic challenges and diminished quality of life in rural communities. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, this study examined first-generation rural students’ perceptions of their experiences with secondary and postsecondary advisors and the impact of intrusive advising on postsecondary credential attainment. The study explored how students described advising experiences and how intrusive advising influenced persistence and credential completion. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with first-generation rural students and analyzed using thematic analysis. Five themes …

Ontology-Based Decision Support System For Improving Aquaculture Management, Thuy Thi Thu Pham, Phuong Thi Can, Nga Thi Thanh Ha

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Early detection of shrimp diseases is vital for reducing losses and ensuring sustainable aquaculture. In this study, a novel ontology-driven framework for shrimp disease diagnosis that integrates environmental knowledge with machine learning-based image analysis is proposed. An ontology was constructed from a structured dataset of environmental parameters and farm conditions related to shrimp diseases, which formally represents concepts such as farm characteristics, environmental factors, symptoms, and disease types. Two public shrimp image datasets were subsequently used to train convolutional neural networks (ResNet50 and MobileNetV2) for automated disease classification. The predicted disease labels and confidence scores were mapped onto the ontology. …

Case Study On Operational Performance Improvement By Turbocharger Nozzle-Ring Modification In Shipboard Generators, Jong-Hun Im, Mukyeong Kang, Sang-Deuk Lee

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Owing to increasingly stringent emission regulations imposed by the International Maritime Organization and rising fuel prices, the demand for enhanced energy efficiency and emission control in marine power systems is increasing. This study presents a case study in which the performance of an aging auxiliary generator is restored by modifying the turbocharger nozzle ring. The vessel, a 12-year-old crude-oil tanker, experienced repeated operational issues with its No. 3 generator. This included elevated exhaust gas temperatures, reduced intake air pressure, and frequent turbocharger surges. To address these challenges, the nozzle-ring blade angle was reduced by approximately 2° using spare components, while …

Towards Sustainable Marine Education: Assessing High School Students’ Understanding Of Conservation Concepts, Cheng-Chieh Chang, Tsuyoshi Sasaki, Ya-Yin Liao, Ling-Ya Hung, Liang-Ting Tsai

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This study assesses the concepts of marine resource conservation and sustainability among Taiwanese high school students by developing a Chinese version of the Marine Resources Conservation and Sustainability Scale. Grounded in the cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral learning objectives outlined in UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development Goals (ESDGs), the scale targets students aged 16 to 18 to examine gender differences in marine knowledge and conservation concepts. The scale comprises 31 items across four dimensions: the first section evaluates marine knowledge, while the remaining dimensions utilize a four-point Likert scale to assess cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral learning objectives, respectively. The results indicate …

Dynamic Governance Of Transboundary Fisheries Through Deep Learning And High-Frequency Vessel Tracking Data For Climate-Resilient Management: An Application To The East China Sea, Qin Lin, Yaqing Shu, Manel Grifoll, Hongxiang Feng

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Transboundary fisheries governance is increasingly challenged by jurisdictional conflicts, regulatory asymmetries, and climate-induced stock shifts in fish stocks, especially in contested regions like the East China Sea (ECS). This study capitalizes on China’s high-frequency BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) data (June 2021–May 2022) to pioneer a CNN-BiLSTM deep learning model to dynamically identify fishing hotspots and evaluate policy effectiveness. By integrating vessel trajectories, environmental variables, and regulatory events, we examine spatiotemporal patterns of fishing effort relative to seasonal bans, extreme weather, and quota systems. Key findings reveal: (1) post-moratorium (September–December) concentration of fishing intensity, peaking in November; (2) significant weather-driven …

Lock Scheduling Decisions And Strategy Optimization Under Operation Interruption Scenarios, Junhe Li, Qiang Zhang, Junpeng Jiang, Jiangchao Bao

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Locks are critical nodes in inland waterway transportation systems that concentrate vessel traffic between upstream and downstream reaches, making their operations highly sensitive to hydrological conditions. Therefore, disruptions caused by droughts, floods, or routine maintenance can easily trigger congestion. To address this issue, this study systematically examines the interrelationships among the number of ships awaiting passage, scheduling strategies, the trade-off between lock chamber utilization and ship waiting time, the influence of ship entry sequences on user satisfaction, and the combined effects of these factors on overall lock scheduling performance. Based on these analyses, an integrated decision-making model for two-stage ship …

Corrosion Protection Assessment Of Offshore Wind Turbine Substructures Using Beasy Cp Simulation Analysis, Chuan-Yang Wan, Hung-Hua Sheu, Sheng-Yu Wang, Yao-Ming Wang, Wei-De Chen, Ming-Yuan Lin, Hung-Bin Lee

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This study investigates the corrosion protection assessment of offshore wind turbine substructures established in the waters off Keelung, Taiwan. First, a cathodic protection system for the monopile foundation is designed and established. The Boundary Element Method (BEM) is applied using the BEASY simulation software to develop a 3D geometric model for cathodic protection. In the steel monopile simulation analysis, the exposed marine environment is set based on the sea conditions of the Keelung small boat marina, including parameters such as salinity, resistance, and polarization curves, to establish an effective cathodic protection system for underwater structures. By simulating these parameters, a …

Face-To-Face Versus Distance Education In Competence-Based Maritime Education And Training, Clara Borén, Marcella Castells-Sanabra, Manel Grifoll

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The COVID-19 pandemic created significant challenges for higher education, with universities being shut down and face-to-face teaching and assessment shifting to an online format. This presented an opportunity to focus on the continuity of learning through distance education, especially in the maritime context, due to the on-board training requirements, and even though five years have passed, this shift has reshaped the education landscape, proving that remote learning has come to stay.

At the Barcelona School of Nautical Studies, we have developed a weather routing software in the framework of distance education and teaching innovation. We conducted a teaching trial alternatively …

A Bibliometric And Visualization Analysis Of Global Giant Clam Research, Chia-Hsiang Chen, Chih-Hsien Chang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In this study, bibliometric analysis and visualization tools were used to investigate the academic network and knowledge structure surrounding global giant clam research. A total of 551 relevant publications from the Web of Science database, published from 1900 to 2024, were analyzed. The findings indicate that research on giant clams has experienced considerable growth since 2012, peaking in publication output in 2021. Sixty-six countries were represented in the study sample, with the United States, Australia, China, Singapore, and Japan being the most represented ones. Notably, the rate of international collaboration was only 29%, highlighting a need for additional integrated cross-border …

Design Framework For Polymer Gel Treatments From A Database Of Field Projects, Baojun Bai, Munqith Aldhaheri, Mingzhen Wei

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study compiles and analyzes data from over 125 published field projects around the world, covering nearly 900 treated wells. Building on those detailed studies, this paper distills the most important findings into a concise, practical, and actionable framework to guide where in-situ gel treatments should be applied, how they should be designed, and how their outcomes can be evaluated. The proposed workflow guides engineers through five integrated stages: screening appropriate gel types, designing formulation and injection strategies, predicting field response, evaluating treatment performance, and conducting iterative refinement with feedback loops to adjust designs based on observed outcomes. The framework …

The Human Side Of Humanitarian Work: Well-Being And Performance Among Aid Workers In Egypt, Mai Osama Kenawy

Theses and Dissertations

Well-being and productivity are widely recognized as central to the work performance of humanitarian aid workers. Despite increasing attention to staff well-being, performance within the humanitarian sector in Egypt remains stagnant or, in some cases, declining. This study examines why expanded well-being initiatives have not yielded sustained performance improvements by examining how actors' external roles, organizational factors, and individual factors affect humanitarian workers’ well-being and work performance. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining ten in-depth interviews with humanitarian workers from international organizations, INGOs, and local NGOs, as well as a survey of eighty workers operating in the same context. The …

Women's Ratings Of Leadership Effectiveness Of Agentic Black Women Leaders, Patrice Y. Lattimore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

The Flight Of The Purdue Owl: An Institutional History, Harry C. Denny, Vicki R. Kennell, Garrett I. Colón

The Founders Series

The Flight of the Purdue OWL: An Institutional History chronicles both the widely known Purdue OWL website and the lesser-known but much-celebrated on-campus writing center. Purdue University is renowned for its world-class STEM curriculum as well as its intercollegiate athletics. The university also receives considerable attention, however, for the OWL website, which is one of the most used educational resources in the world. The on-campus OWL is also a highly regarded collegiate writing center. This book tells the history of how the Purdue OWL grew out of decades of faculty working with students and their desire for a laboratory where …

Building Bridges: The Reference Interview As A Mechanism For Social Capital In School Libraries, Jessica M. Lilly

Learning Hub

Building Bridges: The Reference Interview as a Mechanism for Social Capital in School Libraries

Abstract

School librarians occupy a unique position within schools, interacting across all stakeholder groups and serving as a conduit between students, teachers, administrators, and the broader learning community. This article examines the reference interview not merely as a transactional information-retrieval tool but as a relational practice through which school librarians generate, sustain, and distribute social capital. Drawing on the foundational theories of Putnam (2000), Coleman (1988), and Bourdieu (1986), and on the reference transaction model grounded in Jesse H. Shera's foundational work (Coleman et al., …

The Impact Of Telephonic Versus Video Platforms On Nurses’ Intrinsic Motivation: An Evidence-Based Practice Project, Brittney Saldierna

2026

Ambulatory pediatric nurses frequently rely on telephone-only encounters for telehealth triage and patient education despite the availability of video-enabled technology. Literature demonstrates that the inability to visually assess patients limits clinical assessment accuracy, communication effectiveness, and nurse confidence. The purpose of this evidence-based practice project was to evaluate whether educating ambulatory pediatric nurses on the integration of video-enhanced telehealth encounters impacts intrinsic motivation and perceived competence compared with telephone-only encounters. Guided by the Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice and the ADKAR Change Management Model, this quantitative, quasi-experimental project was implemented in ambulatory pediatric specialty clinics within a large tertiary healthcare …

Child Sexual Abuse: What Utahns Need To Know, Brie Sparks, Susan R. Madsen

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

Child sexual abuse is a serious and often hidden issue affecting children, families, and communities in Utah. It is frequently misunderstood and underreported, leaving many children without the support they need. Misperceptions about who is at risk and how abuse occurs can make prevention more difficult. Addressing child sexual abuse requires greater awareness, education, and a shared commitment to creating safe environments where children are protected and supported. Preventing abuse and reducing its long-term impacts is a critical responsibility for individuals, families, and communities in Utah.

Thrivetogether – A Community-Drivenwellness Platform Powered By Ai, Isaac Soto, James Hunter, Ethan Nguyen, Nathan Shimada

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

ThriveTogether is a wellness platform powered by artificial intelligence that is designed to help users create personalized fitness and nutrition plans through a combination of community-shared content and intelligent personalization systems. The platform is developed to support people at all stages of their health journey, including beginners and users with physical limitations, by providing accessible and adaptable wellness guidance. Unlike many existing health applications that rely on generalized advice or costly personalized services, ThriveTogether emphasizes affordability, inclusivity, and practical usability through user-generated recipes, workout plans, and nutrition plans while also enhanced by trusted nutritional sources through a rule-based validation system. …

Heterogeneity Mechanism And More Precise Prediction Of Seafarer Fatigue Based On Group Modelling, Zhiwei Zhao, Anqi Quan, Shuxin He, Lijun Tang, Xinjian Wang, Wessel M.A. Van Leeuwen

Plymouth Business School

Traditional research often treats seafarers as a homogeneous group when exploring the causes of fatigue, neglecting the potential heterogeneity in fatigue mechanisms arising from differences in rank and department. This study systematically analyzes the fatigue driving patterns of four subgroups – Deck Department vs. Engine Department, and Officers vs. Ratings – and constructs high-precision prediction models. Based on questionnaire survey data from 450 seafarers from two Chinese shipping companies, Exploratory Factor Analysis was conducted to extract group-specific factors. Subsequently, Multiple Linear Regression and Backpropagation Neural Network models were established to identify key influencing factors and compare predictive performance. The results …

Guideline On Stress Echocardiography - 2026, Marcelo Dantas Tavares De Melo, Daniela Do Carmo Rassi Frota, Silvio Henrique Barberato, Fabio Villaça Guimarães Filho, Harry Acquatella, Vera Márcia Lopes Gimenes, Jorge Alfredo Lowenstein, Ricardo H Pignatelli, José Maria Del Castillo, Joselina Luiza Menezes Oliveira, José Sebastião De Abreu, José Luis De Castro E Silva Pretto, Issam Shehadeh, Alex Dos Santos Felix, Mercedes Maldonado Andrade, Antônio Carlos Sobral Sousa, Maria Estefânia Bosco Otto, Andrea De Andrade Vilela, Pedro Gutierrez Fajardo, Liz Andréa Villela Baroncini, Cristiano Vieira Machado, Fábio Cañellas Moreira, José María Hernández Hernández, Marco Stephan Lofrano Alves, Samira Saady Morhy, Márcio Silva Miguel Lima, Miguel Osman Dias Aguiar, Wilson Mathias Junior, Letícia Dos Santos De Oliveira Rocha, João César Nunes Sbano, Barbara Athayde Linhares Martins Vrandecic, Fabio Roston, Arnaldo Rabischoffsky, Juliana Paixão Etto Rolim, Raphael Aparecido Barreto Da Silva, Guilherme De Rossi, Kamila Fernanda Staszko, Jolie Britt, Marcelo Luiz Campos Vieira

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.