Digital Commons Network^™

Harnessing Nigeria’S Aquaculture And Fisheries Component Of The Blue Economy, B. S. Awe, O. Adeoti

Blue Economy

Nigeria aims to diversify from carbon to blue economy. Target 7 of Goal 14 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the creation of the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, and the passage of the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy (2025 -2034) in May 2025 are the three frameworks driving this ambition. However, water pollution and changes in climate are central to harnessing the aquaculture and fisheries component of the blue economy. With increasing waste disposal in waterways and waterbodies and decreasing river water flow due to changes in climate, these have implications for …

The Cascading Gravity-Fed Nanoscopic Asymmetric Displacement Filter With Self-Priming Discard Protocol, Peter Stevenson

Defensive Publications Series

A gravity fed water filtration system to obtain clean potable water from sea water that requires no consumables or osmosis

Comparative Antibacterial Efficacy Of Hot Vs. Cold Aqueous Saussurea Costus Root Extracts Against Streptococcus Mutans, Fatima Adil Mohammed Hussien, Ahlam Taha Mohammed

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

The present in vitro study assessed the antibacterial efficacy of aqueous root extracts prepared using hot and cold extraction methods of Saussurea costus against Streptococcus mutans isolates. Based on antibacterial screening results, the hot extract, which demonstrated greater antibacterial activity, was selected for subsequent cytotoxicity assessment. Cold and hot aqueous extracts were subjected to phytochemical screening, and phenolic acids and flavonoids were quantitatively assessed using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. Antibacterial efficacy was evaluated using a resazurin-based microdilution technique to assess the minimum inhibitory concentration, followed by subculture to determine the minimum bactericidal concentration, and an agar well diffusion assay. Cytotoxicity of …

Enhancing The Ability To Construct Scientific Explanations Among 7th-Grade Students Using A Diagram-Based Scientific Explanation Learning Model With Scaffolding Techniques, Kanchana Yongdee, Chaninan Pruekpramool

Journal of Education Studies

Previous instructional approaches have effectively developed the claim and evidence components of students’ ability to construct scientific explanations. However, the reasoning component remains unclear. This convergent parallel mixed-methods research aimed 1) to study seventh-grade students’ level of ability to construct scientific explanations during learning using the diagram-based scientific explanation learning model with scaffolding techniques, and 2) to study seventh-grade students’ level of ability to construct scientific explanations after learning. The target group consisted of 32 seventh-grade students from a school under the Office of Secondary Education Service Area in Kanchanaburi Province, selected through purposive sampling. Research instruments for collecting data …

Dr. Contrarian: A Persona-Driven Conversational Ai Agent For Coaching Argumentative Reasoning In Infectious Disease Classroom Debates, Khayriyyah Mohd Hanafiah

Biology Faculty/Staff Publications

Critical thinking and persuasive communication are essential for biology graduates navigating socioscientific dilemmas. While debate pedagogy fosters problem-solving, autonomy, competence, and relatedness aligned with adult learning and self-determination theories, inexperienced students often struggle with the cognitive load and anxiety from this format. To bridge this gap, “Dr. Contrarian,” a persona-based conversational AI agent, was developed to function as an adversarial coach during debate preparation. Survey data (n = 21) adapted from the Technology Acceptance Model show that 85.7% of students found the tool easy to use, and 71.4% would use it again. Thematic analysis of metacognitive reflections suggests that while …

Cultural Orientation, Parent-Child Connectedness, And Student Mental Health Perceptions, Abigail M. Mattias

Master's Theses

An individual’s perception of mental health is likely shaped by multiple interrelated factors. Connecting research into mental health perceptions across racial groups and parental value transmission suggests that a strong parent-child relationship increases the likelihood of the child endorsing parental and cultural values. The current survey examined the following predictors of mental health stigma among 144 college students: cultural orientation (collectivist/individualist attitudes), cultural background (collectivist/individualist heritage) as mediated by perceived parental mental health stigma, and parent-child connectedness as moderating the mediation. As predicted, there were stronger links between parent and child mental health stigma when parent-child connectedness was stronger. The …

Safety And Resilience In Disaster Debris Removal And Clean-Up Operations: A Field And Training Guide For Resilience Workers In Disaster Debris Removal And Cleanup, Mohsen Shahandashti, Ph.D, P.E., Abhijit Roy, Ph.D, Zhe Yin, Ph.D, P.E., Pmp, Leed Ap, Antonio Balderrama, Ph.D, P.E., Sandesh Adhikari, Santosh Acharya

Mavs Open Press Open Educational Resources

A practical safety guide for the people who clear debris after disasters, and for the trainers who prepare them. Built for crews of every experience level--from seasoned operators to first-time volunteers--it teaches how to read a damaged site, recognize hidden and shifting hazards, work safely around heavy equipment and hazardous materials, and make sound decisions under pressure. Every chapter pairs clear guidance with a one-page field job aid, facilitator notes for trainers, and a real-world scenario, all grounded in OSHA, FEMA, EPA, and NIOSH guidance.

Safety and Resilience in Disaster Debris Removal and Clean-Up Operations Copyright © 2026 by Mohsen …

Distribution Modeling Predicts Pacific Newt (Genus Taricha) Road Mortality Near Remote Lakes In Santa Clara County, California, Anna Petrosky

Master's Theses

The California newt (Taricha torosa) is listed as a State Species of Special Concern across its southern range due to habitat degradation and loss, and limited studies indicate it may be experiencing these threats in its northern range as well. This project assesses where the California newt may be encountering roads as migration barriers and experiencing high mortality in western Santa Clara County, California, in an effort to inform future conservation efforts. I conducted surveys of California newt roadkill on roads bordering two reservoirs used as breeding habitat and accessed roadkill data collected by the Lexington Reservoir Newt Patrol. Roadkill …

Legal Orphans: Defining Who Is The Mother In Gestational Surrogacy Agreements, Emma Savoie

Child and Family Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Prospective Chest Ct Cohort With Opportunistic Multidimensional Phenotype Capture In Routine Care At A Tertiary Hospital In Western China: Protocol, Heng Zhang, Caipan Gong, Chunfeng Xiang, Shucai Wu, Xifeng Liang, Huazhang Song, Yanhan Xiang, Shuang Liang, Xiaoling Peng, Xiaogang Ren, Yang Li, Hongyan Li, Jing Song, Yuanhua Cheng, Yingchun Xiang, Zhiwei Wu, Chungang Zhao

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Routine chest CT contains clinically relevant multidomain information beyond the immediate examination indication, but translation into routine care requires more than identifying individual biomarkers. This protocol describes a prospective observational cohort designed to evaluate whether technical assessability, standardised multidomain research phenotyping, routine radiology reporting and documented care can be linked reproducibly within routine clinical chest CT at a tertiary hospital in western China.

Methods and Analysis: This is a single-centre, prospective, consecutive-enrolment observational imaging cohort embedded in routine outpatient and inpatient chest CT practice rather than a dedicated screening programme. The study is organised around a scan-to-phenotype-to-report-to-care framework while …

The Caged Canary: Compounded Discrimination And The Female Jazz Vocalist, Isabella Eaton

Master's Theses

While women have historically represented the overwhelming majority of jazz vocalists, they have also experienced a unique legitimacy gap in a culture that traditionally grants the status of authenticity to the masculine instrumentalist. This study explores the experiences of mid-twentieth century female jazz vocalists, arguing that they faced compounded discrimination within American jazz culture as a result of gender marginalization and the devaluation of their vocal instrument. The intricacies of this phenomenon necessitate a multipronged qualitative approach by employing historiographical analysis, synthesis of existing scholarship, and qualitative case study research methods. Beginning with the dichotomy between the jazz “cat” and …

How Far Do A Smile And A Hand Held Tight Reach? Children’S Play As A Transdisciplinary Predictor Of The Trajectory Of Physicochemical Processes On Atomic, Molecular And Cellular Scales, Evangelina Wu Uskoković, Theo Wu Uskoković, Vuk Uskoković

Administration and Staff Articles and Research

The search for an intrinsically beautiful scientific project took two children and their parent to over 600 visits of 181 playgrounds scattered throughout northern, central and southern California over the period of more than three years. Their goal was to test the hypothesis that children’s happiness and fondness for communication at playgrounds could be used, through complexity and entropy as intermediary quantities, as predictors of the evolution of physical, chemical and biological phenomena on microscopic scales ranging from the atomic to the cellular. Specifically, a link was sought between the children’s responses at play and the reaction paths of physicochemical …

Relationship Between Language, Culture, And Thinking Of The Kajang Community From The Perspective Of Anthropological Linguistics, Harlinah Sahib, Jumardin Muchtar, Herawati Abbas, Ferawaty Syam

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

In terms of anthropological linguistics, the study aims to explore the interaction of language, culture and cognitive tendencies in the community of Kajang. It particularly looks into the traditional oral expressions (kelong) of the community, including Kelong Basing Rikong, Lok-lok, and Ati-ati Raja, as their understandings of life, death, spirituality, and social values are expressed. A qualitative ethnolinguistic approach, informed by anthropological linguistics, was used in this study. Data collection methods included field observations, in-depth interviews with traditional leaders (Ammatoa), cultural practitioners and community elders, and a documentary analysis of oral texts, especially Kelong. …

Legal Shifts And Judicial Inconsistencies In Strict Liability After The Omnibus Law: A Critical Analysis Of Indonesian Environmental Law For Responsible Mining And Esg Compliance, Nurul Listiyani, Khenza Atthaya Namira Yulianto

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

The legal significance of strict liability in mining arises from the sector’s capacity to generate technically complex, diffuse, and long-latency environmental harm that is difficult to address through fault-based litigation alone. This study aims to evaluate how the post-Omnibus Law reformulation of Article 88 of Law No. 32 of 2009 has affected the doctrinal autonomy, judicial consistency, and practical enforcement of strict liability in Indonesian environmental law. The research used normative doctrinal legal research including statutory, case-law, conceptual, comparative, and evaluative analyses. The data cover the 2009–2025 period and consist of two core statutory formulations of Article 88, the Job …

Comprehensive Evaluation Of At(N) Imaging Biomarkers For Predicting Cognitive Decline, Tom Earnest, Braden Yang, Deydeep Kothapalli, Aristeidis Sotiras, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Few studies have investigated how different Alzheimer's disease biomarker definitions affect predictions of cognitive decline.

METHODS: We predicted cognitive decline using 42 biomarker definitions spanning amyloid beta, tau, and neurodegeneration in 383 ADNI participants with baseline neuroimaging and longitudinal cognitive assessments. We identified optimal predictors for each pathology and variable type (continuous, binary, non-binary categorical) using nested cross-validation. Models were compared against support vector machines (SVMs) incorporating brain-wide pathology. In a subsample, we compared imaging-based biomarkers with biofluids (cerebrospinal fluid and plasma).

RESULTS: We observed substantial variability in accuracy, even for measures of the same pathology. Tau biomarkers were …

Lived Experiences Influencing Breast Cancer Survivorship Among African American Women After Treatment, Brianne Layce Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

It is well documented that a breast cancer diagnosis elicits various psychoemotional feelings. Despite resilience African American women show during breast cancer treatment, gaps remain in the healthcare system in regard to meeting specific needs of this population. Using Kierkegaard’s theory of existentialism, this study examined influences of breast cancer survivorship among African American women after treatment. Data were collected from 10 African American women who were breast cancer survivors residing in Virginia via in-person and virtual interviews. Interviews were conducted using a questionnaire. Resilience, spirituality, and personal coping strategies were values among African American women who survived breast cancer. …

“Whenever You Are Using Media, You Should Always Have A Purpose”: A Study Of Chinese Immigrant Mothers’ Media Practices, Xiaoning Gui, Daniel G. Krutka

Journal of Media Literacy Education Pre-Prints

This qualitative study explores how eleven Mandarin-speaking Chinese immigrant mothers of young children in a southwestern U.S. city navigate and mediate media in their households. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Findings show mothers balance media’s educational affordances with concerns about health and age-appropriate content, employing gatekeeping, time limits, and purposeful sharing. Mothers described children as learners, co-learners, and cultural connectors, sometimes reversing mediation by teaching mothers about U.S. media norms. Interpreted through a lens of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy while also drawing on Confucian concepts, results underscore the need for early childhood educators to honor immigrant families’ practices while fostering …

Preliminary Clinical Evaluation Of Inhalation Aromatherapy With Blended Essential Oils On Sleep Quality In Adults With Sleep Disturbance, Punyanut Amorndoljai, Laddawan Choothong, Surachai Techaoei, Em-On Chaiprateep

Journal of Health Research

Background: Sleep disturbances impact cognition and physiology. While individual essential oils are documented, a gap remains in how multi-component blends can target multiple pathways. This study evaluated a blended essential oil (BEO) systematically guided by Thai Traditional medicine (TTM) principles to balance the "Wind" element (Tard Lom) alongside modern neurobiological validation.

Methods: A one-group pretest–posttest quasi-experimental study was conducted in adults (aged ≥ 20 years, n = 38) with sleep disturbances (PSQI > 5). The BEO formulation consisting of orange (2.5% w/w), lavender (1.0% w/w), ylang-ylang (1.5% w/w), geranium (0.5% w/w), cedarwood (2.0% w/w), and rosewood (2.0% w/w) in 95% ethanol …

The Role Of Family Problem-Solving And Neighborhood Social Cohesion On Child Socioemotional Learning Among Families With Low-Income, Nazaret C. Suazo, Alanah C. Claybaugh, Deborah J. Jones

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Socioemotional learning (SEL) is linked to a broad range of child outcomes, with income playing an important role in child SEL, yet most work has compared high- and low-income children yielding less understanding of variability in risk and protective factors within low-income families and communities. Building upon theories in the positive youth development literature and public health frameworks exploring social determinants of health, this study explored the role of family problem-solving, neighborhood social cohesion, and neighborhood resources in understanding child SEL within 1097 low-income families of 3- to 5-year-old children who participated in the National Survey of Children’s Health. Using …

Temporal Variation In Picophytoplankton Pigment Phenotypes Of Two Urban Rivers, Kylee M. Lamberson, Camille E. Wendlandt, Kristin E. Forgrave, Anne W. Thompson

International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities

Picophytoplankton are a group of photosynthetic, unicellular organisms, making them key primary producers in aquatic ecosystems. These cells numerically dominate in oceans and lakes where picophytoplankton communities contain phenotypic subpopulations that correspond to biogeographic patterns. In rivers, however, such community dynamics are less studied. We examined the phenotypic subpopulations of picophytoplankton in two converging urban river environments of Portland, Oregon (USA): the Columbia and the Willamette Rivers. From September 2022 through July 2023, we took roughly bi-weekly surface water samples and used multi-laser flow cytometry to distinguish between photosynthetic cells based on their size and pigment fluorescence. We discovered seven …

The Case Against The Five-Paragraph Essay, An Tran

Undercurrents: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Composition

An Tran is a double major in finance and psychology from Boston, MA. An notes that she came from an “underfunded elementary school” where “the curriculum has been rooted in standardized tests, and preparing for them in order to bring in funding.” Given that, she argues that “our value, as students, has become less about the investment of an upcoming generation and more about how much money we could bring in from our test scores.” An notes that the five-paragraph essay “is a core component of this pattern, and it hinders students from truly learning the craft of writing.” She …

Neurodiverse Authority, Gavin Pereira Scoccia

Undercurrents: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Composition

Gavin Pereira Scoccia is a biology major and anthropology minor from Brookline, MA. While writing this essay Gavin says, “I was so upset at the education system for not giving me, or my neurodivergent peers, a chance.” Gavin shares that he was diagnosed with ADHD at a young age but “never got accommodations despite needing them, leading me to fail in school.” Gavin often believed that he was lazy, did not try hard, and was simply not good enough, and he believes that schools often let students down because they have preconceived notions about what makes a “good student.” He …

Scorpio Basraensis Sp. N. From Southern Iraq (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae), Ersen A. Yağmur, Jafar A. Makki, Shurooq A. Najim

Euscorpius

A new scorpion species, Scorpio basraensis sp. n., is described and illustrated from Basra Province, southern Iraq. Scorpio basraensis sp. n. is compared with all known species of the genus Scorpio Linnaeus, 1758 occurring in countries surrounding Iraq. The new species can be distinguished by the circular genital operculum in males and the cordiform genital operculum in females (not posteriorly elongated), a densely hirsute body, appendages and metasoma, a distinctly elongated telson vesicle, discrete granules on the external surface of the chela manus that are not flattened, and pectinal tooth counts of 11–13 in males and 9–11 in females. …

Sociodemographic And Geographic Factors Underlying Breast Cancer Survival Disparities Among Women In The United States, Colletta Brabham-Orr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Breast cancer-specific mortality in the United States remains higher among women in rural and socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, yet few population-based studies have been conducted to jointly scrutinize demographic and structural determinants of this disparity. Informed by the social determinants of health framework, this secondary data analysis, using records from the SEER Research Plus database, examined the association between age at diagnosis, race and ethnicity, rural/urban residence, county-level median household income, and breast cancer-specific mortality among U.S. women aged 18 and older diagnosed with malignant invasive breast cancer between 2010 and 2020 (N = 285,865). Bivariate chi-square tests and binary logistic …

Field-Induced Electrochemistry: Concept, Application, And Outlook, Jingyu Wu, Yingjie Ji, Shiyu Wang, Shuyun Yao, Xiaoxuan Wang, Kang Ji, Wanlong Bai, Chao Yi, Zhiyu Yang, Yi-Ming Yan

Online First

Field-induced electrochemistry has attracted increasing attention as a complementary strategy for regulating electrode process kinetics beyond conventional composition and structure optimization. Externally applied fields and local fields arising from interfacial polarization, nonuniform charge or spin distribution, defects, heterostructures, spontaneous polarization, and high curvature surface geometries can influence adsorption, interfacial electron transfer, ion and mass transport, and gas–liquid transport. This review summarizes the conceptual development from field-induced chemistry to field-induced electrochemistry and discusses field effects from a multiscale kinetic perspective, including atomic and molecular processes, nanoscale interfacial regulation, and mesoscopic and macroscopic transport. Representative electric, magnetic, flow, strain, thermal, acoustic, and …

Attachment 8: Confirmation Bias In U.S. History - Iraq And Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Katy Spexarth

Katy Spexarth, College Critical Reading and Critical Thinking

No abstract provided.

Activity 2: The Scholar's Lens, Emese Ilyés

Emese Ilyés, From Story to Action: Research as Liberation Practice

No abstract provided.

Molecular And Structural Basis For Replication Initiation And Strand Separation By Human Mitochondrial Dna Polymerase Γ, Viktoriia Sokolova, Gina Buchel, S. Strock, Ashok R. Nayak, Dmitry Temiakov

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Defects in human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication can lead to somatic mutations associated with a range of devastating mitochondrial diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms governing the earliest steps of mtDNA replication and their fidelity remain poorly understood. Here, we found that DNA polymerase gamma (Polγ) forms stable complexes with RNA-DNA primer-template substrates, exhibiting greater stability and lower misincorporation than on DNA-primed substrates. Structural analysis revealed that Polγ interacts with the 2'-OH groups of ribose within the first four nucleotides of the primer, explaining the stability of complexes that utilize RNA primers. Although Polγ requires TWINKLE to extend RNA primers, its …

Predicting Oncogenic Mutants Of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor In Lung Cancer By Molecular Dynamics Simulation With Machine Learning, Victor O. Anyanwu, Justin Spiriti, Chung Wong

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Works

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a frequently mutated protein kinase found in patients suffering from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although therapeutic drugs targeting EGFR are available, not all patients respond to these drugs, and it is not yet known whether some clinically detected mutations are actionable. Although the oncogenicity of some mutants is well established, many mutants found in patients are not yet classified or classified as Variants of Uncertain Significance. For newly discovered rare mutants, strong evidence supporting their classification into oncogenic or benign is often lacking. Under such situations, multiple pieces of evidence can still …

Microbiome Dynamics During Translocation Of The Critically Endangered Frog Craugastor Ranoides, Xavier A. Harrison, Katherine Herborn, Gilbert Alvarado, Maria Marta Chavarria, Kirtsy J. Marsh, Alexander Wilson, Alexandra North, Vikki Wakeham, Roberto Fernández Ugalde, Héctor Zumbado-Ulate, Jon Bielby, Robert Puschendorf

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Amphibian populations are declining, and species are going extinct due to habitat loss, climate change, and emerging infectious disease, prompting the increasing use of translocations as a conservation tool. Skin-associated bacterial communities play a key role in amphibian health, particularly in protecting hosts from pathogenic infection. However, to date weknow relatively little about the impact of translocation on the dynamics of skin-associated bacteria, or the consequences oftranslocation-mediated disturbance of the microbiome for amphibian health. We investigated the skin microbiome of the critically endangered frog Craugastor ranoides, now restricted to a fraction of its historical range in Costa Rica. We first …