Digital Commons Network^™

Paleo-Environmental Change In Deer Lagoon, Whidbey Island Interpreted From Diatoms And Lithology, Lourdes Garcia

All Master's Theses

Puget Sound is a densely populated, tectonically active area that can be affected by earthquakes from local crustal faults and the Cascadia subduction zone capable of producing abrupt coseismic subsidence. Tidal wetlands are particularly sensitive to abrupt changes because they are depositional environments that reside at sea-level and their lithology and ecological communities are strongly controlled by elevation within the tidal frame. As a result, coseismic subsidence can disrupt established environmental gradients and leave distinguishable signatures preserved within the stratigraphy, like tidal mud directly over peat deposits. These preserved records provide an opportunity to reconstruct past earthquakes and associated relative …

The Geomorphology And Hydrogeology Of Pre-Restoration West Fork Teanaway River, Wa, Usa, Shana M. Egan

All Master's Theses

The West Fork Teanaway (WFT) River in Kittitas County, WA is an entrenched bedrock river channel with disturbed floodplain geomorphology and degraded riparian ecology. Two stream restoration approaches, “stage 0” valley bottom reset and engineered logjam installation, will be installed at the WFT in summer 2026 by collaborators at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife and Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group. The objective of this study was to constrain the pre-restoration geomorphic and hydrologic conditions of the WFT. The WFT has an unconsolidated floodplain aquifer of predominantly coarse-grained fluvial deposits. Monitoring of groundwater and surface water levels began in …

Exploring Students' Perceptions Of Active Learning Practices And Their Role In Critical Thinking Development In Undergraduate Biology Education, Kwame Kyeremah

All Master's Theses

As the global landscape becomes increasingly complex and undergoes more rapid changes than ever before, critical thinking has become an indispensable skill for addressing challenges in society, science, and the workplace. Despite its widespread adoption in undergraduate STEM education, active learning remains poorly understood from the student's perspective. This study investigated how undergraduate biology students perceived active learning in a ten-week biostatistics course (BIOL 213) at Central Washington University, and whether those perceptions aligned with critical thinking gains measured by the California Critical Thinking Skills Test with Numeracy (CCTST-N). A convergent mixed-methods design integrated student perception and mindset survey data …

Artistic Merit In The Wind Band Repertoire: A Critical Analysis Of Jarod Hall’S “Golden Horizons”, Eric Mills

All Master's Theses

The wind band repertoire has long been subject to rigorous scrutiny regarding its artistic legitimacy, and scholars have invested considerable effort in developing frameworks through which that legitimacy can be assessed. The most enduring of these is Acton Ostling's ten criteria of serious artistic merit, formulated in 1978 and tested across nearly half a century of subsequent scholarship. This thesis argues that JaRod Hall's Golden Horizons (2024) satisfies those criteria, through a close analysis of a single contemporary work, and what it reveals about the framework's continued analytical utility.

The methodology combines a review of the scholarship surrounding Ostling's framework, …

American Elderberry's Next Top Pollinator: Evaluating The Role Of Arthropods In Pollination, Jenny K. Burrow

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

American elderberry (Sambucus nigra subsp. canadensis) is a woody deciduous shrub native to eastern North America. In addition to its long history of use by indigenous peoples, there is renewed interest in cultivating and consuming American elderberry, primarily driven by expanding health supplement markets. Despite recent advances in horticultural development of American elderberry, its pollination ecology remains poorly understood. In this field study, I evaluated the contribution of arthropod visitors to pollination of American elderberry. To do this, I first characterized the identities and abundances of arthropod visitors via timed arthropod collections and floral observations during peak flowering …

Human Plasma Extracellular Vesicles As An Exercise Mimetic To Preserve Skeletal Muscle Plasticity During Disuse, Alexander M. Fliflet, Yanqi Tan, Takeshi M. Barnes, Ane Nishitha Vijayan, Sung Jun Choi

Kinesiology & Sport Management Scholarship

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which extracellular vesicles (EVs) circulating in blood after exercise training act as an effective mimetic to maintain skeletal muscle mass during unloading and/or accelerate recovery after disuse. Ten healthy males (27.7 ± 7.1 y) were recruited for a 6-week progressive resistance and endurance training program. EVs were isolated from blood before (EVs) or immediately after training (ExerVs). EVs were intraperitoneally injected into male mice (4×; 3 × 108 particles/injection) during 14 days of hindlimb unloading (HU), then the muscles were collected immediately or 7 days after HU. ExerVs did …

Coloring Outside The Lines: Antiracist Aesthetics In The Detective Novels Of Chester Himes, Kam Shapiro

Faculty Publications – Politics and Government

In a series of detective novels published between 1957 and 1969 Chester Himes portrayed diverse individuals struggling for survival, wealth, and status in a fictionalized postwar Harlem, combining what Richard Wright called a “bio-social” perspective with an antiracist aesthetics that falsified simplistic racial categories. In this essay, I trace Himes’s renderings of bodily difference and transformation, highlighting features neglected by contemporaries such as Ellison and Baldwin as well as more recent critics and readers who frame Himes’s writings as protests against anti-Black violence. I conclude that Himes’s Harlem novels did not simply reflect violent realities of African American lives but …

2026 Oer Deep Dive, Caterina B. Azzarello, Cassendra Bergstrom, Kirsten Gilderhus

About OER

The Affordable & Open Educational Resources (AOER) Committee at UNC, in collaboration with the Colorado Department of Higher Education, UNC’s Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, and the University Libraries, hosted an in-person OER Deep Dive professional development workshop on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. This full-day event was created for faculty and staff interested in learning more about Open Educational Resources (OER) and exploring ways to incorporate them into their instructional practices.

Throughout the workshop, participants examined the foundations of OER, discussed distinctions between openly licensed and freely available materials, and explored the role of affordable course content …

How Effective Is Online Teaching Of Physiology Modules? Perception Of Rwandan Health Sciences Students, Abdullateef Isiaka Alagbonsi, Mojeed Akorede Gbadamosi, Mathieu Nemerimana, Makinde V. Olubiyi, Olufunke Onaadepo, Akaninyene Ubong Ime, Abdul-Rahuf Aderemi Feyitimi, Ruth Wanjiru Mungai, Florent Rutagarama, Simiat Elias

Biomedical Sciences, East Africa

Background: While blended teaching is approved in Rwandan medical education, the perceived effectiveness of online-only delivery for physiology modules remains unclear. This uncertainty limits its continued use. The present study assessed Rwandan health sciences students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of online teaching for physiology modules.

Methods: A total of 528 students from medicine and surgery (n = 300), pharmacy (n = 99), dentistry (n = 89), and clinical psychology (n = 40) programs at the University of Rwanda completed an online questionnaire. Data were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression and non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis) with corresponding effect …

Examining The Drivers, Consequences, And Depoliticization Strategies Of Greenhouse Gas Emission Polarization Among The American Public, Lauren Wilner

Environmental Studies Honors Theses

This thesis examines the politicization of greenhouse gas emissions within the American public, tracing its evolution from a consensus based scientific topic to a deeply polarized partisan issue. While early research established a clear link between greenhouse gases and global warming, the late 20th century saw a strategic rise in skepticism fueled by conservative think tanks, contrarian scientists, and industrial interests. This study analyzes the psychological mechanisms and media practices that have exacerbated this divide and decline in public environmental concern, which has resulted in negative social and environmental effects due to a slowed federal response to the climate crisis. …

Exploring Detached Concern, A Dual-Process Emotional-Regulation Strategy, Among Intensive Care Nurses Providing End-Of-Life Care In The United States, Melissa Milton Miasek

Dissertations

Intensive care unit (ICU) nurses repeatedly provide end-of-life care (EoLC) and experience significant emotional distress, burnout, and moral distress that can lead to leaving the profession. Detached concern (DC), a dual-process emotional-regulation strategy which balances empathetic concern with emotional detachment, may support ICU nurses' emotional well-being; however, DC among nurses remains vastly understudied. This qualitative descriptive study gained deeper understanding of DC among ICU nurses providing EoLC in the United States. The study was guided by a conceptual model adapting Lampert and Glaser's dynamic DC process within Elfenbein's emotional regulation framework. The overarching research question explored ICU nurses' perspectives on …

Icipe Annual Report 2025, International Centre Of Insect Physiology And Ecology (Icipe)

icipe Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Optimized Nano-Bilosomes Loaded Ocular Insert As A Promising Approach For Boosting Voriconazole Ocular Bioavailability: In-Vitro, Microbiological, And In-Vivo Assessments, Eman Gomaa, Eman Gomaa

Nanotechnology Research Centre

The eye possesses numerous physiological barriers that significantly limit the absorption of administered drugs, as only < 5 % get through. These barriers restrict drug bioavailability, often necessitating multiple dosing, which can lead to poor patient compliance. The study goal is to efficiently incorporate Voriconazole (VRC), a widespectrum antifungal candidate with a short half-life, into stable, biocompatible, non-irritating bile salt nanoparticles (Bilosomes, BLOs) to enhance its ocular delivery. Bilosomes were prepared by the ethanol injection method. Experimental (33 ) Box–Behnken Design (BBD) was employed; the amount of bile salt, cholesterol, and span-60 were chosen as independent variables, while entrapment efficiency (EE%), cumulative VRC release (Q8h), particle size (PS), zeta potential (ZP), and polydispersity index (PDI) were the dependent variables. The formula of optimization showed EE% (59.04 ± 1.88 %), cumulative release after 8 h (81.35 ± 0.69 %), PS (222.53 ± 2.04 nm), ZP (− 72.53 ± 1.75 mV), and PDI (0.225 ± 0.03). It was chemically characterized using DSC and FTIR. Its spherical arrangement was confirmed using TEM. For ophthalmic application, the optimized formula was included in ocular inserts to extend ocular residence time while minimizing dosing frequency. The optimal VRC-loaded bilosomal ocular insert met the acceptable physicochemical criteria, was sterilized using UV radiation for conducting microbiological assay, in-vivo study, and pharmacokinetic analysis. For safety evaluation, an eye irritation study and histopathological examination were conducted. The results confirmed its effectiveness as evidenced by a significantly larger inhibition zone and 8.39-fold enhancement in VRC bioavailability compared to its suspension. These findings support the potential of bilosomes-loaded ocular insert as an effective ocular delivery of VRC.

Comparing Microgrids With Nuclear Energy: Which Is Better To Catapult New York Toward Its Green Energy Future?, Justin R. Ochs

Natural Resources Journal

This Note examines New York’s climate goals under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) by comparing two pivotal energy solutions: nuclear energy and microgrids. Microgrids remain notably underexplored in legal scholarship, particularly their potential to achieve compliance with the CLCPA. By analyzing the economic, environmental, regulatory, and public perception challenges associated with nuclear energy and microgrids, this Note argues that microgrids offer a safer, more flexible, and sustainable option for accelerating New York’s path toward its green energy future. This Note evaluates microgrid projects across New York, along with common critiques regarding the scalability and viability of hybrid …

Andrews University Press 2026 Booklist, Andrews University Press

Booklists

No abstract provided.

Andrews University Press 2026 Booklist, Andrews University Press

Booklists

No abstract provided.

Sainik Vol 1 Issue 2, Sastra Deemed To Be University

SAINIK

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Law And Ai As An “Apex Collaborator”: Legal Frameworks For Optimized Cooperation, David S. Filippi, Bill Tomlinson, Andrew W. Torrance

FIU Law Review

Law fundamentally exists to enable human cooperation, providing frameworks for everything from basic contracts to complex international agreements. As artificial intelligence systems grow more sophisticated, they may enable new ways that collaborative activity can occur. We posit the possibility of a new kind of AI entity: the “Apex Collaborator,” a computational system with capabilities for cooperation and partnership that are superior, in at least some ways, to those of humans. Just as apex predators shape the ecosystems in which they live through predation, Apex Collaborators would shape human-AI networks through their ability to enhance peaceful coexistence, collective problem-solving, and shared …

Let’S Talk About The Biological Reality Of Sex, Baby, John Parsi

FIU Law Review

Sex is at the very core of individual identity. It affects the conception of the self and the way others view the individual. Every day, one’s sex may open and close doors, access to communities, and opportunities. Laws that define sex may affirm scientific knowledge and protect people, or threaten to unravel the facts and the reality of sex. A deep unmooring of sex is underway, and this Article aims to halt it. On day one of the current presidential term, January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order on “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological …

Cruel And Unusual Punishments And The Constitutional Status Of The Idea Of Progress, R. George Wright

FIU Law Review

To this point, we have developed some idea of what progress might have meant to the constitutional Framers, ratifiers, and later judges. We need not attempt the fruitless task of doing any precise head count of the variations of the concrete meaning, perceived likelihood, or value of progress among those parties. Doubtless some persons were more optimistic than others.178 But we need only assume that enough constitutional Framers, ratifiers, and judicial interpreters sufficiently shared any mainstream understanding of progress. Any such constitutional legitimacy of the idea, or the multiple ideas, of progress licenses the language of progress embraced in Trop.

Appendix 13.1, Daniel L. Dinsmore, Hope E. Wilson

UNF Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

An Anti-Adhesive Compound Modulating The Production Of Staphylococcus Aureus Cell Wall-Anchored Proteins, Allison C. Leonard, Ruina Bao, Cindy Menjivar, Megan J. Myers, Telmo O. Paiva, Zhiyong Zheng, Kirsten A. Berry, Kenneth W. Bayles, Ronald S. Flannagan, Yves F. Dufrêne, Jeffrey L. Bose, David E. Heinrichs, Georgina Cox

Journal Articles: Pathology and Microbiology

As one of the leading global causes of death associated with antimicrobial resistance, Staphylococcus aureus frequently colonizes the human nasal cavity and adheres to keratinized skin, establishing reservoirs that drive subsequent infections and emphasize the need for new decolonization strategies. Using a high-throughput, whole-cell screening platform, here we identify geranylgeranoic acid (GGA), a naturally occurring polyunsaturated, branched-chain fatty acid, as having dual activity against methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). At elevated concentrations, GGA exhibits microbicidal effects, whereas at sub‑microbicidal doses, it effectively inhibits MRSA adhesion to keratin, fibronectin, fibrinogen, and immunoglobulins. GGA possesses anti-adhesive activity against a panel of multidrug-resistant S. …

Suicidal Ideation As Regulation: Exploring Dispositional Factors, Risk, And Comfort In Those With Suicidality, Christopher Francis Weller

Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-

Despite decades of research, suicide rates remain high, suggesting that risk-factor approaches have not captured the complexity of suicidality (Cai, Chang, & Yip, 2020; Hjelmeland, 2016; Milner, Robinaugh, & Nock, 2020). Contemporary theories have emphasized understanding suicidal ideation (SI) as part of a developmental process (Joiner, 2010; Klonsky & May, 2015). Emerging research has suggested that, for some, SI serves an emotion regulation function, but individual differences in this remain underexplored (Coppersmith et al., 2018; Kleiman et al., 2018). This study examined SI as a regulation strategy by integrating the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide, attachment theory, and models of emotion …

Ai, Experimental-Based Discovery And Preclinical Ind-Enabling Studies Of Selective Bmx Kinase Inhibitors For Development Of Cancer Therapeutics, Rwan Wael Elsanhoury

Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-

The current work aims to design and provide a preliminary IND-enabling study of selective BMX inhibitors for cancer therapeutics development. BMX is an emerging target, more notably in oncological and immunological diseases. In this work, we have employed a predictive AI-based platform to design the selective inhibitors considering the novelty, IP prior protection, and drug-likeness properties. Furthermore, selected top candidates from the initial iteration of the design were synthesized and chemically characterized utilizing 1H NMR and LC-MS. Employing a panel of biochemical (enzymatic) and cancer cell lines, the selected molecules were tested against these assays. In addition, we used artificial …

Factors Affecting Detection Of A Cryptic Ambush Predator Using Camera Traps, With Implications For Snake Monitoring, Sarah Elizabeth Ebert

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Camera traps are becoming increasingly popular in wildlife research because they can be deployed for long time periods with little maintenance and are much less invasive than traditional trapping methods. However, they are primarily used to study large mammals and have not been extensively tested for snake species, many of which are cryptic and understudied. The Adapted-Hunt Drift Fence Technique (AHDriFT) arrays were designed to improve detection of herpetofauna by attaching camera traps to drift fences. In the summer of 2022, we installed 20 AHDriFT arrays at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in coastal South Carolina where we …

Climate, Energy, Economy: Interconnected Perspectives From Politics, Business, And The Public, Isabella Harper Heinzen

Theses and Dissertations

When considering the economic and social costs and benefits of a global, intergenerational, and environmental issue, rigid analysis often falls short. The topics discussed in this thesis aim to address the complex moral, economic, and political concerns regarding climate change to provide a holistic view of the issue and the role humans play. The first section on the scientific consensus addresses concerns regarding the existence and severity of climate change, finding where the responsibility lies for humans. The second section analyzes the energy context in modern society to understand the call for a transition from oil and gas to renewable …

Applying Groupthink To Digital Spaces: The Rise Of Online Conspiracy Theory Networks, Lily Karen Schow

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the transformation of political paranoia and collective decision-making in the United States from the twentieth century to the digital age. Building on Richard Hofstadter’s concept of the “paranoid style” and Irving Janis’s theory of groupthink, it argues that the dynamics of conspiratorial thinking and collective misjudgment have not disappeared but have been reconfigured by digital communication systems. While Hofstadter identified paranoia as a recurring rhetorical mode and Janis analyzed groupthink as a pathology of small, cohesive decision-making groups, this study contends that both frameworks require adaptation to account for contemporary digital environments. The analysis traces how historical …

The Cyclical Pattern Of Despair And Hope: T.S. Eliot’S Comedia, Danielle Russo

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how T.S. Eliot is inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy throughout his collection of poetry, which in turn creates his own version of the Comedia. Through this thesis, there is an exploration of three stages: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. By following the road map to paradise just as Dante did before him, Eliot creates a journey from the depths of hell provided by the end of the Great war towards the garden of paradise prior to the start of the Second World War, exploring themes of paralysis, terror, experience without meaning, and hope. Using excerpts across his span …

Understanding Self And Others: Exploring The Relationship Between Maladaptive Personality Traits And Theory Of Mind, Christian Dellavella

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between theory of mind (ToM) and maladaptive personality traits is a poorly understood but critical intersection between cognitive and clinical psychology. While some research has suggested certain personality characteristics may elevate ToM ability, others may contribute to deficits that lead to negative health outcomes and poor social functioning. Understanding how variability in the population’s ideological disposition affects our capacity to comprehend others’ perspectives and emotions is key to grasping the intricacies of social interactions. As the fields of clinical psychology and psychiatry begin to reclassify their diagnostic systems, it is critical to evaluate how novel conceptualizations of personality …