Digital Commons Network^™

Book Review: The American Religious Landscape By Ryan Burge, Derek Maxson

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Streptococcus Mutans And The Plaque Microbiome: Implications For Targeted Therapies For Dental Caries, Cooper Barton, Navi Gill Dhillon

Bioinformatics

Abstract:

Dental caries is a highly prevalent, biofilm-mediated disease driven by dysbiosis within the supragingival plaque microbiome. Although Streptococcus mutans has traditionally been regarded as a primary cariogenic pathogen, advances in microbiome research underscore the importance of community-level interactions and collective metabolic activity in disease progression. This literature review synthesizes current evidence on the ecological role of S. mutans, the functional dynamics of plaque biofilms, and emerging therapeutic strategies targeting cariogenic microbiomes. Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses indicate that caries is characterized by reduced microbial diversity and a shift toward acidogenic and aciduric metabolic pathways across the microbial community. Furthermore, …

Clark Magazine, Spring/Summer 2026, Clark University

Clark Magazine

The Spring/Summer 2026 edition of Clark Magazine. Clark Magazine is a twice-yearly publication primarily geared towards Clark University Alumni.

The cover story is "From Dream to Destiny: 100 Years Ago, Robert H. Goddard Put Humanity Aboard a Rocket Ride to the Future".

The Effects Of Body Mass Index On Fertility And In Vitro Fertilization, Morgan R. Kidd

Honors College Theses

In-vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most widely used type of assisted reproductive technology for treating infertility arising from a number of conditions. As obesity rates continue to climb in the United States, infertility has been discovered to have a direct correlation. Individuals that fall below or above the healthy body mass index range are found to have disrupted regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, resulting in diminished reproductive health. Those that are diagnosed as infertile due to conditions caused by the effects of low body mass index or high body mass index may seek assisted reproductive technologies to intervene in achieving …

Aligning Reparations And Taxation, Katherine Pratt

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

Rehabilitative reparation remedies advance the important normative goals of intergenerational restorative justice and racial reconciliation. This Article fills a gap in the reparations literature by exploring a critical missing piece of reparations—nontaxation of reparation remedies. Historical examples of reparation remedies show how, in the past, a patchwork of tax rules prevented taxation of reparations and advanced the rehabilitative goals of reparation remedies and procedural fairness in tax administration. Conversely, contemporary examples show how current tax law taxes the receipt of reparation remedies, thereby undermining the rehabilitative goals of reparations and procedural fairness.

This Article proposes a new statutory tax exclusion …

University Of San Diego Magazine Spring 2026, Publications Department

University of San Diego Magazine (1992- )

Beauty, Goodness and Truth; Dear Toreros; Around Alcalá Park; Roads Less Traveled; Faith in Action; Asking Better Questions in an Age of Easy Answers; Shaping the Next Generation of Science Leaders; At the Edge of It All; Global Perspectives; Torero Athletics; Toreros Making Waves; In Memoriam; Leading With Love

Comparing Potential Soil Organic Carbon Storage Based On Dominant Vegetation Types In Central Texas Riparian Grasslands With Loss On Ignition, Renee Trombley

Environmental Studies Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Trust: The Invisible Force Behind Effective Leadership During Times Of Change, Lindsay Atoro

M.S. in Leadership

Workplace change is constant, yet most change management models focus on logistical, financial, and operational factors, overlooking the human aspects. Strategies to support employees often neglect the critical role of trust in effectiveness and success. To more deeply explore the role of trust, this study combined a comprehensive literature review with leader interviews to compare theoretical findings with real-world practices. Results revealed that while leaders acknowledged the importance of trust in leading teams through change, fewer than half explicitly identified it without prompting. Trust was consistently referenced, though often implicitly, reflecting a pattern in the literature where trust was acknowledged …

Evolution As Spatial Projection, Charles H. Smith, Ngoc Nguyen

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

A theory combining explanations for the nature of three-dimensional systems and evolutionary processes is advanced, set to a geometric simulation, and then discussed in the context of several empirical studies bearing on its validity. The concept “evolution” is first discussed, then related to Baruch de Spinoza’s ideas on natural philosophy, including his concept of the conatus. These ideas are then extended by posing the possible existence of a general form of natural systems subsystemization leading to the extended space condition. A geometrical/topological simulation study projecting spatial relations among subsystem structures interpretable through entropy maximization and multidimensional scaling methods is presented, …

Exploring The Mental Health Experiences Of First-Time Parents: A Qualitative Study., Taylor Ryan

Doctor of Social Work Capstone Projects

While transitioning into parenthood, one in five mothers will experience Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs), and fathers are more likely to experience mental health disorders than their non-parenting counterparts. Although PMADs are experienced by many first-time parents, it is unclear if parents receive sufficient education on how to identify these symptoms and how to access the necessary resources. The current qualitative study explores the experiences of individuals who identify as first-time parents (N = 7) aged 25 to 34, with a child under 2 years old. Applied thematic analysis was used to identify themes related to first-time parents’ experiences …

Improving Emergency Management Standards In A Community Hospital Emergency Department, Christian Lanphere

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: This quality improvement (QI) project used a pre-test/post-test design to evaluate whether targeted emergency management training improved emergency department (ED) nurses’ preparedness for mass casualty incidents (MCIs). A purposive sample of 25 ED nurses with fewer than ten years of experience from a community-level ED participated. The PICOT question examined whether participation in structured emergency management education would significantly improve nurses’ knowledge, skills, and abilities, as measured by the Emergency Preparedness Information Questionnaire (EPIQ).

Aims/Objectives: The project aimed to enhance ED nurses’ preparedness for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) MCIs. Objectives included delivering a comprehensive CBRNE-focused educational …

Webb Keane, Animals, Robots, Gods: Adventures In The Moral Imagination (Princeton University Press, 2025), Gal Kober

Bridgewater Review

In an era of ChatGPT therapy sessions, romantic relationships with chatbots, and urgent warnings about artificial general intelligence, Webb Keane’s Animals, Robots, Gods: Adventures in the Moral Imagination arrives as an original intervention. Rather than joining the ongoing debates around artificial intelligence (AI) ethics regarding algorithmic bias or environmental tolls, Keane, a prominent anthropologist from the University of Michigan, takes readers on a globe-spanning journey that reframes our current technological anxieties within the much longer history of human encounters with non-human others. His central argument is both simple and radical: the moral questions we face about robots and AI are …

Nedd 4 Pyre-Fighters To Extinguish Inflammation: Nedd4l Ubiquitinates Gasdermin D And Gasdermin E To Dampen Pyroptosis, Kailash Gulshan

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Imidacloprid Effects On The Survival And Cutaneous Microbiome Of Northern Leopard Frogs, Evelyn Margaret Osterloo

Honors Thesis

Amphibians are experiencing population declines due to habitat loss, climate change, and diseases, particularly chytridiomycosis caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Protection from this fungal infection stems from the cutaneous microbiome. Pesticides have been shown to affect amphibians in a variety of ways, including reducing survival, locomotor performance, and accumulation in body tissues. Pesticides may also lead to changes in the cutaneous microbiome affecting amphibians who rely on these organisms as an anti-Bd defense mechanism. To investigate the effect of imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid insecticide, Northern Leopard frogs (Lithobates pipiens) were subjected to sublethal concentrations (control = …

April 2026 Library & Learning Newsletter, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Library & Learning Dean's Office Communication Team

Library & Learning Newsletters

PDF version of the April 2026 (Volume 4, Issue 9) Library & Learning Newsletter.

Sharksrx Newsletter Spring 2026, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Sharks Rx

No abstract provided.

The Ten Commandments, Stripped Of Slavery, Exodus & Jubilee, Christopher D. Hampson

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

The Ten Commandments are back on public classroom walls and in federal court, after several states passed new laws requiring school districts to post the text. As attorneys, judges, and amici debate whether First Amendment law has changed enough since Stone v. Graham in 1980 to allow the posting of the ancient religious text, this Essay comes at the situation from an entirely different angle. The precise text proposed by the states might be a good example of “ceremonial deism,” but it removes biblical law from biblical narrative – and, in doing so, unsets the Ten Commandments from their original …

Scraping Bad: The Case For A Unified Scraping Framework, Eunchong Moses Park

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

This Note explores the growing legal and regulatory landscapes of web scraping in the United States and argues that web scraping should be regulated through a unified federal framework tailored to its unique technological and economic realities. Web scraping allows organizations to collect massive amounts of data essential to their operational needs—often without the consent of data holders. Thus, web scraping has become a powerful engine of innovation used across virtually every sector of the economy but with a serious risk to privacy and property interests. Yet the current U.S. legal framework lacks a coherent regulating structure. Courts and litigants …

Mobile Dna Activity In Parkinson's Disease: A Locus-Specific View Of Endogenous Retroviruses, Elizabeth Banda-Arnold, Charles S. Venuto, Keith A. Crandall

GW Research Showcase 2021-2026

No abstract provided.

Lipoprotein(A) And Incident Peripheral Artery Disease The Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study, Kaleb Lema, Emma K. Stapp, Minghao Kou, Shoshana H. Ballew, Ning Ding, Ron C. Hoogeveen, Christie M. Ballantyne, Maya J. Salameh, Kunihiro Matsushita, Melinda C. Power

GW Research Showcase 2021-2026

No abstract provided.

Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of A Sustainable Catch: Using Maine's Right To Food To Encourage Sustainability In The Lobster Industry, Emma Rodgers

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Every year, millions of sharks, turtles, whales, and other marine life are swept up in fishing gear never meant for them. This collateral damage, known as by-catch, is a persistent and deadly problem in the fishing industry. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates that around 38 million tonnes of global marine catch each year—40% of all fish pulled from the ocean—is unintended by-catch. Unfortunately, the WWF approximation of annual by-catch likely underestimates the proper amount of by-catch because their estimation includes little information on large marine animals, such as turtles and cetaceans which are also caught in the by-catch process. …

The Resilience Of What, Exactly, To What, Exactly, Along The Coast? Adapting To More Than Just Human Migration, Robin Kundis Craig

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The world’s coastlines are changing as a result of climate change and ocean acidification, creating drivers of human adaptation efforts— efforts that may increasingly include migration inland. Rising sea levels tend to get most of the attention as coastal migration drivers, because they represent the force most likely to physically push residents away from the coast through inundation, coastal erosion, and/or destruction of coastal water supplies.

However, climate change and ocean acidification are also changing the world’s coasts ecologically, and these ecological changes also drive coastal adaptation, testing the adaptative capacity and ecological resilience of coastal communities. This Article examines …

Of Mangroves And Men: Mobilizing Legal Innovations To Protect Coastal Communities From Climate Displacement, Sarah Dorman, Monica Iyer, Kelsey Jost-Creegan

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Around the world, there is growing concern that phenomena related to climate change may render coastal areas unlivable in the coming years and decades. Scientific projections indicate that with high greenhouse gas emissions, sea levels may rise upwards of 6 feet by 2100. Studies repeatedly warn that—absent steep and urgent global emissions reductions— places where hundreds of millions of people currently live will be below projected high tide lines for 2100.

In many coastal areas, climate change often impacts historically marginalized, racialized, and low-income communities first and worst. Such communities are often located in more vulnerable areas like flood plains. …

April 2026, Office Of Research

Research Update

No abstract provided.

Ethics In Church-Based Research, David R. Dunaetz

Great Commission Research Journal

Both biblical principles and the standards used in the social sciences help researchers understand how to ensure their research is ethical and how to avoid the temptations associated with conducting research. Using a framework derived from Ephesians 4:25-28, these principles include truthfulness, avoidance of harm, and integrity through hard work. Ethical violations include data fabrication and falsification, questionable research practices, inaccurate references, duplicate publication, coercion of participants, and plagiarism. Special care must be taken to prevent harm to participants, either directly or indirectly. Researchers studying church-based phenomena also need to be aware of the heuristics and biases that can weaken …

2026 Vol 18(1) Complete Issue, David R. Dunaetz

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Music Listening While Studying And Academic Performance Among College Students With Attention Deficit And Hyperactivity Disorder, Raihan K. Khan, Md Towfiqul Alam, Madalynn Nofplot, Sojib Bin Zaman, Catherine L. Zaman

Faculty Scholarship

Evidence on whether music listening supports academic performance, particularly among students with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), remains mixed. We explored associations between music listening while studying and academic performance (GPA: grade point average) among college students, and to evaluate whether the associations differed by ADHD status. We analyzed cross-sectional survey data from college students and conducted linear regression models with self-reported GPA as the dependent variable. Models were adjusted for sex, academic level, college affiliation, primary study location, weekly study hours, and preferred genre of music. A total of 541 students participated. Most of the students were at …

Numerical Study Of Nutrient Mixing In Trabecular Bone In Microgravity, Disuse And Normogravity, Sagar Gharti

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Mechanical loading is known to regulate bone remodeling by driving interstitial fluid flow which stimulates cells and drives nutrient transport within the trabecular network. In microgravity, the absence of mechanical stimulation or loading suppresses convective flow processes, causing diffusion-driven nutrient mixing and renewal, and accelerated bone loss. This thesis investigates how oscillation frequency and trabecular bone density jointly control nutrient mixing and wall shear stress within trabecular cavities.

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) framework is developed in STAR-CCM+ using a soft-cap oscillation model that mimics cyclic compression. Three idealized trabecular morphologies are simulated across different frequencies to represent microgravity or …

Insect Inspired Behavioral Strategies For Improving Multi-Agent System Resilience In The Presence Of Contagious Faults, James E. Hand

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

As Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) become increasingly involved in every aspect of everyday life the need to maintain reliability and resilience within these systems grows. However, in equal measure bad actors wishing to maliciously control or alter these systems are growing in both scale and capability. Thus, there is a present need for control schemes and agent behaviors that provide security against these threats while also avoiding large degradation in system performance as a tradeoff. Current research has covered a wide breadth of avenues and strategies that provide measurable resilience to faulted agents. However, these strategies often require group consensus, specialized …

Ellie - Exteroceptive Light Locomotion In Eukaryote-Fungi, Brandon Etwarroo

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Over the past decade, fungal research and its technological applications have expanded across multiple disciplines, including the emerging field of biohybrid systems. This thesis develops and evaluates a wireless, untethered mobile robot controlled by the action potential-like activity generated by Pleurotus ostreatus sporocarps under red, green, and blue optical stimulation. Light is applied to the sporocarps, the resulting electrical responses are recorded, and these signals are transmitted wirelessly to actuate the mobile robot. Both the action potential-like activity patterns and the robot’s movement trajectories were analyzed. The results demonstrate that wireless robotic control mediated by fungal electrophysiology is feasible. Overall, …