Digital Commons Network^™

Digital Fashion For The Avatar Or Digital Fashion For The Self? Understanding Gen Z’S Willingness To Spend On Digital Fashion In The Metaverse, Shivam Agarwal

AMTP Proceedings 2026

This research examines Generation Z’s (Gen Z) willingness to spend on digital fashion in the metaverse, comparing preferences for avatar-based consumption versus physical consumption for the self. Drawing on generational cohort theory and identity-based consumption, the study proposes that Gen Z consumers—who are deeply embedded in digital environments—place greater value on avatar identity and self-expression in virtual spaces. Using a between-subjects experimental design, participants from Gen Z and older cohorts evaluate their willingness to purchase digital fashion for their avatars versus identical physical items for themselves. We predict that Gen Z will exhibit a significantly higher willingness to spend on …

Promoting Inclusive Tourism Via Metaverse, Shivam Agarwal

AMTP Proceedings 2026

This research explores how metaverse-based virtual tourism can be leveraged to promote inclusive tourism and enhance place branding. Drawing on emerging literature in virtual experiences and destination marketing, the study examines how immersive environments enable tourism marketers to project inclusive destination identities. In metaverse settings, users engage through customizable avatars, allowing for representation of diverse identities and accessible experiences for vulnerable populations, including older adults, individuals with disabilities, and LGBTQ communities. We propose that inclusive cues embedded within virtual environments—such as diverse avatars and accessible design—enhance perceptions of destination inclusivity, which in turn increase motivation to visit the physical destination. …

Aiw26s: Machine Learning Of Structured Data, Moumita Saha

Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute Publications

This workshop introduces the fundamentals of machine learning for structured data, focusing on tabular datasets and real-world applications. Participants explore key concepts such as data types, data preprocessing, feature engineering, and supervised learning methods. The session covers commonly used models, including linear regression, logistic regression, decision trees, and neural networks, along with evaluation metrics such as RMSE, accuracy, and confusion matrices. By the end of the workshop, participants will have gained a practical understanding of how to build, interpret, and evaluate machine learning models for structured data.

An Integrated Bayesian Network-Based Zero Trust Model To Quantify Cyber Risk In Small-Medium Businesses, Ahmed Abdelmagid

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Small-medium businesses (SMBs) play a pivotal role in the worldwide economy as they constitute the most considerable portion of businesses in developed countries like the UK and the US. As such, SMBs are likely targets of cybercrimes by malicious agents because of their vulnerable IT systems. The digital infrastructure of SMBs is more likely to be hit by cyberattacks than large businesses due to many factors that facilitate hackers’ missions. These factors include a limited financial budget devoted to cybersecurity, a lack of knowledge, an underrating of how dangerous cyber threats are, and a shortage of IT expertise. The enormous …

The War Poetry Map Project: Exploring The Physical And Emotional Geography Of Conflict, Colin D. Halloran

English Theses & Dissertations

There can be no question that war is shaped by and has shaped cultures, and yet as an object of study it is rarely looked at from a cultural studies perspective. It is the great epics of war that form the cornerstones of Western literary tradition. It is the impact of war that gave rise to fields like trauma and memory studies. It is the propaganda produced, the hijacking of cultural industries, that help perpetuate wars. The War Poetry Map Project and accompanying written dissertation seek to move beyond historical and political contexts and view war as a cultural object. …

Shadowrunning The Human: Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun Series And Transhumanism, Alexander P. Orelup

English Theses & Dissertations

I argue that Harebrained Schemes’ video game series Shadowrun critiques transhumanism in three distinct yet related ways: in terms of religion, political control, and identity capitalism. In doing so, Shadowrun attempts to counter claims that video games are an inherently transhumanist medium and provides an opportunity for players to resist a potential transhuman future. This further elucidates the trends and perceptions of transhumanism within American culture around the time period. I utilize a variety of methodologies in my argument, ranging from cultural studies, narratology, ludology, and close reading in order to grasp all of the audio-visual and gameplay elements that …

Women's Displacement And The Reclamation Of Identity: Navigating Landscapes Of Contestation In The Postcolonial Novel, Carol P. Harvest

English Theses & Dissertations

Landscapes affected by colonial domination are contested landscapes—places not only in danger of environmental destruction through colonial and neocolonial violence but also landscapes of struggle for people who survive in these precarious spaces. Historically, separate postcolonial and ecocritical literary analysis addressed contested landscapes; postcolonial critique centered on the lasting devastation of colonial violence on people and place, while ecocriticism, in its infancy, enjoyed the privilege of ignorance, focusing on endangered species and the preservation of land, but it did not consider the impact of landscapes on the very people who were largely forced to either leave or cross “natural” spaces. …

The Physiology Of The Work: Chronic Stress, Allostatic Load, And Faculty Wellness In Counselor Education, Ajayla S. Evins

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Counselor educators embody multifaceted professional roles across teaching, supervision, research, leadership, and service, exerting a profound influence on the formation of counselors and the ongoing development of the profession (CACREP, 2024; Calley & Hawley, 2008). While wellness is recognized as a core professional value in counseling (ACA, 2014), research has focused almost exclusively on emotional and psychological dimensions, leaving the physiological consequences of chronic stress largely underexplored (Bovee, 2024; Faheem et al., 2025; Lewis et al., 2022). In neighboring fields, such as public health and medicine, chronic stress has been linked to dysregulation in cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, immune inflammatory, and metabolic …

The Effects Of Covid 19 Job Demands On Public Sector Employees’ Organizational Commitment: The Mediating Roles Of Work Engagement And Job Burnout, And The Moderating Role Of Supervisor Support, Benjamin R. Kaufman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

United States citizens rely on state government employees to provide essential public services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these employees responded by administering both routine and novel procedures to protect public health, often placing them on the frontlines and at increased risk of contagion. Concurrently, the pandemic-driven economic downturn created budget shortfalls that threatened the job and financial security of the state workforce. Together, these conditions substantially increased job demands for state government employees.

Guided by the Job Demands–Resources (JDR) Model, this study examined how COVID‑19-related job demands influenced state employees’ work engagement, job burnout, and organizational commitment, and whether supervisor …

Narratives Of Dis-Ease: A Genre Study Of Pathography, Sylvelyn Jo A. Almanzor

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

This essay establishes pathography as a distinct genre of creative nonfiction, tracing the development, form, and cultural significance of this body of literature. I have broadly defined it as narratives on personal experiences of Gabriel Marcel's "dis-ease"—covering and critiquing the human understanding and experience of sickness, pain, and grief—which has evolved from autobiographical narratives and life-writing of patients and medical professionals to a recognized form of creative nonfiction. This study will analyze the genre's structure, themes, and rhetorical strategies with consideration to cultural significance and how it negotiates the human understanding of suffering, healing, and societal attitudes toward existence and …

Comparative Kinetic And Thermal Characterization Of A Full-Length And Truncated Variant Of Endo-Β-1,4-Glucanase From Bacillus Subtilis, Cara Giordano

Bioengineering Master's Theses

The enzyme Endo-β-1,4-Glucanase from Bacillus subtilis, commonly known as BsCel5A, catalyzes the hydrolysis of β-1,4-glycosidic bonds in cellulose aiding in biomass deconstruction and its conversion into fermentable sugars. Efficient, thermostable cellulases are critical for reducing the cost and energy demands of lignocellulosic bioprocessing. Unfortunately, many naturally occurring enzymes are limited by activity rate and stability in bioprecessing conditions, especially high temperatures. In this study, we compared the catalytic and thermal properties of wild-type BsCel5A (BsCel5A‑WT) and a truncated catalytic core variant (BsCel5A‑CC) to evaluate their efficiency and thermostability. The catalytic and thermal properties were investigated through the hydrolysis of …

Treating Maternal Mental Health Problems With An App-Based Program, Leslie E. Roos, Anna L. Mackinnon, E. Bailin Xie, Kaeley M. Simpson, Charlie Rioux, Kristin A. Reynolds, Ryan J. Giuliano, Jennifer Harrington, Jennifer L.P. Protudjer, Shannon Sauer-Zavala, Gerald F. Giesbrecht, Catherine Lebel, Dana Watts, Madeline Belows, Lara Penner-Goeke, Makayla Freeman, Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen

Psychology Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVES: Exposure to maternal mental illness in the first 3 years of life is associated with poor child outcomes. Many mothers experience mental health problems and few have access to evidence-based treatments. Mobile health treatments show promise for mood and anxiety disorders but rarely include parenting strategies. This study evaluated the efficacy of Building Emotional Awareness and Mental Health (BEAM), a 10-week app-based therapist-guided program, which responds to maternal mental health and parenting needs. METHOD: A two-arm, Phase III randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the BEAM intervention compared to unrestricted services-as-usual. Participants completed self-report measures at eligibility, prior …

Sapientia Ex Machina: Engaging Ai As A Meaning-Making Tool For Philosophical Practice, Austin M. Pritchett

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This paper sets out to examine whether a Large Language Model can serve as a genuine interlocutor in philosophical inquiry. With a grounding in the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and in conversation with other works in philosophy on AI, language, and the mind, the author determines the extent to which an AI's contributions to conversation can be said to participate in understanding and meaning-making rather than merely simulate it, thereby making evident the extent to which it is useful in philosophical practice.

Dirges Of Hope, Manasseh Azure Awuni

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Among the varied themes that African fiction explores, politics and governance remain the most dominant across generations. Writing under oppressive and exploitative colonial administrations, the first generation of African storytellers used fiction to highlight the injustice of colonial rule. With fidelity to the African proverb that says the tales of hunting will always glorify the hunter until the lion learns to tell its own stories, African writers also used fiction to push back against one-sided, toxic narratives about the continent. After independence, when rulers of the new republics continued the colonial legacies of oppression, inflicting untold hardships on their citizens, …

Detection And Quantification Of Allergen Cross-Contact In Shared Frying Oil Using Targeted Mass Spectrometry, Francisca Asigri

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cow’s milk and egg allergies are prevalent IgE-mediated food allergies that pose significant public health concerns worldwide. Although strict avoidance remains the primary management strategy, unintended exposure can still occur through allergen cross-contact, particularly in commercial and industrial food operations that utilize shared frying oils. The objective of this study was to identify and quantify allergen transfer in shared frying oil and assess the robustness of existing targeted mass spectrometry methods (LC-MS/MS) for detecting milk and egg proteins in heated oil matrices.

Heated oil spikes were developed by incorporating non-fat dry milk (NFDM) and whole egg powder (WEP) into oil …

Arrival Is Not Access, Emmanuel Asamoah

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

This thesis presents a group of sculptures and installations that explore how material, labor, and communication shape unequal access in diasporic life. It questions the common belief that movement, visibility, or relocation automatically leads to stability, care, or belonging. In my experience, arrival does not guarantee access. Using clay, steel and found materials, I create tension between softness and control. Many of these materials are worn and discarded. I cut and rebuild them, leaving marks of strain and repair visible rather than hiding them.

Repetition appears through rows of cast faces and a collection of telephones. These forms suggest shared …

Assessment Of Precision Rangeland Management Tools In The Nebraska Sandhills, Hannah K. Allen

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The objective of this thesis is to evaluate tools and management strategies that contribute to rangeland monitoring and livestock distribution in heterogeneous grassland systems of the Nebraska Sandhills. Chapter one reviews relevant literature related to precision livestock management, the Nebraska Sandhills, biomass estimation, and pyric herbivory. The second chapter evaluates the use of fractional green canopy cover (FGCC) derived from the Canopeo mobile application as a rapid method for estimating aboveground biomass in Sandhills rangelands. Biomass samples were collected across topographic positions in both early and late growing season, and relationships between FGCC and clipped biomass were assessed using generalized …

Caries Risk Assessment As The Strongest Predictor Of Oral Health–Related Quality Of Life: A Cross-Sectional Multivariate Study Of Adolescent Students, Fadil Abdillah Arifin, Mila Febriany, Husnah Husein, Eva Novawaty

Journal of Dentomaxillofacial Science

Objective: This study aimed to determine the factors associated with oral health–related quality of life (OHRQoL) among adolescent students, with a particular focus on identifying the strongest predictor using a multivariate analytical approach.

Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study with 249 adolescent students in Sekolah Menengah Pertama Negeri 54 Makassar, Indonesia, was conducted. Clinical examinations were performed to assess dental caries experience using the Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth index (DMF-T), oral hygiene status using the Oral Hygiene Index–Simplified (OHI-S), Body Mass Index (BMI), sex, and caries risk level using the Caries Risk Assessment (CRA) tool, categorized into low, medium, …

Immediate Antibacterial Effect Of Sargassum Binderi-Based Mouthwash: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Andre K. Ruslim, Nisrina E. Nasrun, Muhammad I. Rasul, Nurlindah Hamrun, Lenni Indriani, Muhammad H. Chandha, Vera Julia, Muhammad Ruslin

Journal of Dentomaxillofacial Science

Objective: The current randomized controlled trial evaluated the immediate effect of a Sargassum binderi-based mouthwash on the reduction of cultivable oral bacteria compared with control.

Methods: In the current randomized controlled trial, 30 individuals were screened for eligibility, of whom 14 met the inclusion criteria and were randomly assigned to receive either a Sargassum binderi-based mouthwash or chlorhexidine 0.2%. Immediate post-rinse sampling was performed; however, residual antimicrobial carryover could not be entirely excluded. The total cultivable oral bacterial load was quantified at baseline and following intervention using standard culture-based techniques. Baseline bacterial composition was characterized using the analytical profile …

Effects Of Ethanol On Opg Expression, Osteoclasts, And Osteoblasts During Orthodontic Tooth Movement In Wistar Rats: An Experimental Study, Nadia Setiawati Widjaja, Ardiansyah S. Pawinru, Nasyrah Hidayati, Eddy Heriyanto Habar, Eka Erwansyah, Baharuddin M. Ranggang, Ita Purnama Alwi

Journal of Dentomaxillofacial Science

Objective: This research sought to assess how ethanol influences the expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG) and the number of osteoclasts and osteoblasts during alveolar bone remodeling associated with orthodontic tooth movement.

Materials and Methods: A laboratory-based experimental study was conducted using 30 male Wistar rats. Palatal movement of the maxillary incisors was induced using a nickel–titanium (NiTi) closed coil spring applied to the maxillary arch. Rats were randomly divided into two groups: a control group (CG) receiving orthodontic force only, and an experimental group (EG) receiving both orthodontic force and ethanol administration. Observations were conducted on days 0, 3, and 14. …

Semat: Semantic Enhanced Natural Image Interactive Matting, Ruihao Xia, Yu Liang, Peng-Tao Jiang, Hao Zhang, Qianru Sun, Yang Tang, Bo Li, Pan Zhou

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Recent approaches attempt to adapt powerful interactive segmentation models, such as SAM, to interactive matting and fine-tune the models based on synthetic matting datasets. However, models trained on synthetic data fail to generalize to complex and occlusion scenes. We address this challenge by proposing a new matting dataset based on the COCO dataset, namely COCO-Matting. It selects real-world complex images from COCO and converts semantic segmentation masks to matting labels. The built COCO-Matting comprises an extensive collection of 36,980 human instance-level alpha mattes in complex natural scenarios. Furthermore, existing SAM-based matting methods extract intermediate features and masks from a frozen …

Bridging Bug Localization And Issue Fixing: A Hierarchical Localization Framework Leveraging Large Language Models, Jianming Chang, Xin Zhou, Lulu Wang, David Lo, Bixin Li

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Automated issue fixing is a critical task in software debugging and has recently garnered significant attention from academia and industry. However, existing fixing techniques predominantly focus on the repair phase, often overlooking the importance of improving the preceding bug localization phase. As a foundational step in issue fixing, bug localization plays a pivotal role in determining the overall effectiveness of the entire process. To enhance the precision of issue fixing by accurately identifying bug locations in large-scale projects, this paper presents BugCerberus, the first hierarchical bug localization framework powered by three customized large language models. First, BugCerberus analyzes intermediate representations …

Evolution Of Antibiotic Responses During Chronic P. Aeruginosa Infections In The Human Lung, David Frank Ritz

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Typical antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) of microbial samples is performed in homogeneous cultures in batch environments, which does not account for the highly heterogeneous and dynamic nature of antibiotic responses. The most common mutation found in P. aeruginosa lineages evolved during chronic cystic fibrosis infections in the human lung, a loss of function of repressor MexZ, increases basal levels of multidrug efflux MexXY, but does not increase resistance by traditional minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) assays. Here, we use single cell microfluidics to show that P. aeruginosa’s response to aminoglycosides is highly heterogeneous, with only a subpopulation of cells surviving exposure. …

Electron Microburst Precipitation In Earth's Upper Atmosphere, Kelly Cantwell

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Electron microburst precipitation can be a significant and prevalent source of electron loss from Earth's radiation belts into the upper atmosphere. This precipitation has been of interest since its discovery in the 1960's, and the continued progression of experimental capabilities has allowed for new and comprehensive analysis to be conducted on this phenomenon. The \af{barrel} mission was able to remotely sense microburst precipitation in both Northern and Southern hemispheres. In this thesis, I have written an automated detection algorithm with which 38 microburst events (with each event containing tens to tens of thousands of individual microbursts) were detected in the …

Moral Repair, Forgiveness, And Collective Minds, Songzhi Wu

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Human lives are increasingly shaped by collective entities (e.g., corporations, governments, nonprofits) that make consequential decisions and evoke trust, blame, and praise. Yet how people perceive and relate to these non-individual agents remains underexplored. This dissertation investigates collective mind perception, moral repair, and forgiveness across three chapters using experimental, neuroimaging, and corpus-based methods.

Chapter 1 examines how collective entities repair their moral standing after wrongdoing. Across four studies, agentic cues such as responsibility-taking and corrective plans consistently outperform experiential expressions such as remorse in eliciting forgiveness toward organizational transgressors. Agentic apologies also reshape memory: participants recall the apology content more …

Advancement And Characterization Of Next-Generation Solid-State Photon-Counting Image Sensors For Astrophysics Applications, Nicholas R. Shade

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Astronomers’ pursuit of detecting light from increasingly faint and distant objects in the expanse of space necessitates continuous improvement in signal-to-noise ratio of camera technology. Recent advancements in solid-state detector technologies have enabled the determination of photon-number, including single photon events, enabling observations at the fundamental limits of physics. These developments are instrumental not only for standard two-dimensional imaging but also for advanced spectroscopy, which increasingly drives future astrophysical applications. This thesis presents an evaluation of three next-generation silicon-based detectors capable of photon-counting with deep-sub-electron input-referred read noise: the electron-multiplying charge-coupled device (EMCCD), the single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD), and the …

Hybrid Portfolio Optimization With Pca, Clustering, And The Barzilai-Borwein Method, Shin Chiew Kai, Yeing Pan Wei, Seng Sim Hong, Hou Chin Jia, Jia Lee Yap

Malaysian Journal of Computing (MJoC)

Portfolio optimization aims to balance risk and return by identifying an effective mix of assets. In this study, we integrate principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering for stock selection with the Barzilai–Borwein (BB) gradient method for portfolio optimization. Forty-eight U.S. stocks from the Kaggle fundamental stock dataset were initially collected, and 42 stocks were retained after preprocessing. Financial ratios from 2006 and adjusted closing prices from 2016–2017 were analysed, with one representative stock from each cluster selected using the Sharpe ratio. The BB method was then applied to determine optimal weights, ensuring full capital allocation without short selling. Among …

Influence Of Coriolis Force On Controlled Double-Diffusive Marangoni Convection In Nanofluid Layers, Izzati Khalidah Khalid, Ahmad Syukri Mohd Shukor, Mohd Rijal Ilias, Nurul Hafizah Zainal Abidin, Bekzodjon Fayziev

Malaysian Journal of Computing (MJoC)

Controlled double-diffusive Marangoni convection in a rotating nanofluid layer, heated from below, is studied. Various types of lower-upper boundary conditions, including free-free and rigid-free, are considered. The nanofluids model incorporates the mechanisms of Brownian motion and thermophoresis in nanofluids. The stability of the nanofluids model is analysed using a linear stability analysis based on the normal mode technique. The eigenvalue problem is numerically solved using the Galerkin technique and computational simulations are carried out using Maple software. The influences of several parameters are examined and presented graphically, including modified diffusivity ratio, nanoparticles concentration, solutal Rayleigh number and Soret effects. These …

Teacher Readiness And Attitudes Toward Digital Technology In Mathematics Classrooms, Nor Anis Amierah Mhd Pizor, Zarith Sofiah Othman

Malaysian Journal of Computing (MJoC)

This study explores how digital technology is integrated into mathematics education, focusing on the views of secondary school mathematics teachers and using a quantitative research method through a survey. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed to examine the factors influencing technology adoption, identify its barriers, and suggest strategies for enhancement. The novelty of this study lies in its development of an integrated perspective that simultaneously examines teachers’ readiness, experiential background, and attitudes alongside systemic constraints such as training, resource availability, and institutional support within the context of mathematics education. However, challenges such as inadequate training, limited resources, and lack …

An Ultrafine-Resolution Numerical Investigation Of The Influence Of Terrain On Tornado Behavior, Jiamin Dang, Jana Houser, Leigh Orf, Peng Yue, Guirong Yan

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study investigates the effects of idealized and realistic terrain on tornado characteristics and behavior. It uses a novel simulation approach, nesting a high-fidelity, ultrafine-resolution, tornado-scale, engineering large-eddy simulation (LES) within a Cloud Model 1 (CM1) simulation of a tornadic supercell. We analyze the effects of terrain on the tornado's central pressure, horizontal and vertical velocities, vortex shape, and path. Seven idealized terrain configurations are used including 1) a control run with flat ground, 2) and 3) an idealized hill with steep and gradual slopes having the height of 25.4 m, 4) and 5) an idealized escarpment with steep and …