Digital Commons Network^™

Otterbein Towers Spring 2025, Otterbein University

Towers Magazine

Around the 'Bein; Brandon Koons '94, MAT'98, P'23: Coach, Role Model, Author; The Otterbein Advantage; Become Here: Graduating Seniors are READY; Forever Friends: The Cardinal Legacy; Coalition for the Good of Otterbein; Philanthropy; Alumni Matters; Class Notes.

Endothelial Dysfunction Promotes Age-Related Reorganization Of Collagen Fibers And Alters Aortic Biomechanics In Mice, Liya Du, Jeffrey Rodgers, Nazli Gharraee, Olivia Gary, Tarek Shazly, John F. Eberth, Susan M. Lessner

Faculty Publications

Endothelial dysfunction, defined as a reduction in the bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO), is a risk factor for the occurrence and progression of various vascular diseases. This study investigates the effect of endothelial dysfunction on age-related changes in aortic extracellular matrix (ECM) microstructure and the relationship between microstructural adaptation and the mechanical response. Here, we used groups of NOS3 knockout (KO), NOS3 heterozygotes (Het), and wild-type (WT) B6 mice (controls) to study changes in hemodynamic parameters, collagen fiber organization, and both active and passive aortic mechanics using biaxial pressure myography over a time course from 1.5 to 12 mo. Our …

Comparative Performance Of Reciprocal Cross Hybrid Striped Bass In Three Intensive Production Systems, Bartholomew Green, Steven D. Rawles, Matthew E. Mcentire, Candis L. Ray

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Objective: The objective of these two studies was to quantify the comparative performances of yearling and 2- year- old reciprocal cross hybrid Striped Bass (White Bass Morone chrysops ♀ × Striped Bass M. saxatilis ♂), also called sunshine bass, and water quality in traditional and split ponds and an outdoor mixotrophic biofloc technology production system.
Methods: In study 1, two- year- old fish (247.9 g/fish) were stocked at 7,410 fish/ha (0.86 fish/m3) in ponds and 6.3 fish/m2 (7.1 fish/m3) in biofloc system tanks and grown for 151–153 d. In study 2, yearling fish (147.0 g/fish) were stocked at 7,904 fish/ha …

Adipocyte-Derived Cchamide-1, Eiger, Growth-Blocking Peptide 3, And Unpaired 2 Regulate Drosophila Melanogaster Oogenesis, Chad Simmons, Isaiah Williams, Tancia Bradshaw, Alissa R. Armstrong

Faculty Publications

In addition to energy storage, adipose tissue communication to other organs plays a key role in regulating organismal physiology. While the link between adipose tissue dysfunction and pathophysiology, including diabetes, chronic inflammation, and infertility, is clear, the molecular mechanisms that underlie these associations have not been fully described. We use Drosophila melanogaster as a model to better understand how adipose tissue communicates to the ovary. In this study, we utilized D. melanogaster’s robust genetic toolkit to examine the role of five adipokines known to control larval growth during development, CCHamide-1, CCHamide-2, eiger, Growth-blocking peptide 3, and unpaired 2 in regulating …

Does Name, Image, And Likeness Increase Gender Inequality In College Athletics?, Aimee Christenson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In June of 2021, the National Collegiate Athletic Association adopted its first interim policy regarding Name, Image, and Likeness. From here, college athletes have been able to benefit from opportunities regarding their brand as an athlete. While this development has been historic in its expansion of rights to athletes, it highlights the inequities between male and female athletes. Title IX requires equal opportunity for male and female students. This research raises questions about whether NIL is increasing the disparity between male and female athletes. To answer this question, I looked at NIL data collected by Kyle Ems on the NIL …

Hate Groups And The Charitable Tax Exemption, Miriam Galston

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Caroliniana Columns - Spring 2025, University Libraries--University Of South Carolina

University South Caroliniana Society Newsletter - Columns

Have Digital Exhibit, Will Travel: “Forest to Furniture” featured at Sumter Museum in early 2025 … p.3

Officers at War: Rethinking Southern Masculinity, Honor, and Violence in the Civil War Era / Dr. Patrick F. Doyle … p.10

Researching Politics, Finance, and Agricultural Subsidies in the Jim Crow Era / Robert Ferguson … p.14

The Unsung Heroes of History / Beth Bilderback … p.16

Primary Sources: Authors Rely on SCL Holdings for Their Research … p.20

The Cost of the Vote: George Elmore and the Battle for the Ballot … p.20

Empowering Communities: How Electric Cooperatives Transformed Rural South Carolina …

From Theory To Practice: A True-Crime Podcast, Lauren V. Peckham

Senior Honors Projects

The Criminal Element is an innovative, victim-centered podcast that bridges the gap between criminological theory and real-world criminal cases. The podcast is designed as an educational resource for undergraduate Criminology and Criminal Justice students, alongside general audience members interested in learning more about criminological theory. Through the lens of true crime, this podcast is an engaging exploration of foundational and advanced theories while avoiding sensationalism and exploitation, a prevalent problem among true crime media. Each episode connects criminological theoretical concepts – such as strain, social learning, and social disorganization – to contemporary and historical cases, providing listeners with accessible and …

April 1, 2025 Ereporter, University Of Alabama At Birmingham

eReporter (campus newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Labor And Environment Entwined: A Radical Green New Deal And Just Transition In Appalachia, Anne Marie Lofaso, Nicholas F. Stump

West Virginia Law Review

In this Article, Professor Lofaso and Professor Stump propose a genuinely transformative Green New Deal and Just Transition in Appalachia. The Article opens by tracing the long history of the Appalachian labor and environmental movements. Next, the Article interrogates the common contention that the Appalachian environmental and labor movements are opposed. While this contention has substantial truth, more complex forces have been at work in the region. Fossil fuel industry elites, for instance, have wielded exaggerated “jobs versus environment” rhetoric to maximize profits and quash emergent solidarities among local workers, residents, and activists. This Article contends that a key solution …

"Nuestra Herencia, Nuestra Historia – Our Heritage, Our History" Preserving Hispanic Heritage Month At St. Mary’S University, Barbara Ortiz

Capstone Projects

This project aims to initiate the preservation for culturally significant events of Hispanic Heritage Month at St. Mary’s University through collection, documentation and archival efforts. By capturing events, speeches, performances, and exhibits, I plan to create a lasting historical record that highlights the contributions and experiences of Hispanic students, faculty, staff, and community members. The Digital Commons will serve as the primary archive and research space, providing a valuable and accessible resource for future generations, fostering understanding, appreciation, and celebration of Hispanic heritage within the St. Mary’s and Westside San Antonio community.

Contrition Conflict: Remorse And Innocence Under The Juvenile Restoration Act, Jayna Peterson

University of Baltimore Law Forum

No abstract provided.

Anti-Feminisms, Authoritarianism, And Digital Culture: A Pedagogy Project, Charlie Ambrose

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies M.A. Final Projects

This project began, broadly, with my exposure to TikTok’s tradwives—a subset of content creators and influencers who advocate traditional gender roles as women, homemakers, wives, and mothers, with a particular focus on moral and religious beliefs and aesthetic practices of “womanhood.” To me, tradwives encapsulated the internet’s capacity to weaponize subtly: slow-paced, pastel videos, gentle music, and even gentler voices delivering increasingly extreme ideas about masculine and feminine roles, Christian nationalism, and white supremacy. But other threads began to appear as I delved deeper into the world of tradwives. I noticed the men’s rights groups who praised tradwives while openly …

Investigating The Cell Killing Mechanism During Dgtp Starvation, Faith C. Dee, Niketa Bhawsinghka, Roel M. Schaaper

2025 Honors College Research Symposium

E.coli possess a unique enzyme, deoxyguanosine triphosphohydrolase (dGTPase) whichhydrolyzes dGTP into deoxyguanosine (dG) and triphosphate. This enzyme, a homologue of human SAMHD1, is thought to play a role in DNA fidelity because the deletion of its encoding gene, dgt, has a mutator effect. Interestingly, a mutant dGTPase enzyme (M9) was found to be more active than the wild-type enzyme and when M9 overexpression was induced in E. coli strain BL21-AI, a few hours post-induction severe cell death was observed. We hypothesize that overexpression of M9 results in dGTP starvation, which decreases the intracellular dGTP concentration. To investigate this toxic effect, …

Optimizing Focused Ultrasound-Based Deep Penetrating Acoustic Volumetric Printing For Minimally Invasive Bone Reconstruction, Iylan Howson, Muna Aryal Ph.D.

2025 Honors College Research Symposium

Deep Penetrating Acoustic Volumetric Printing (DAVP) is a groundbreaking technology that addresses the limitations of material choices, build sizes, and penetration depths found in light-based volumetric printing. By integrating focused ultrasound (FUS) with a viscoelastic sono-ink, DAVP allows for noninvasive, precise control of material solidification through localized heating and polymerization. Our project seeks to optimize a multicomponent sono-ink formula for minimally invasive bone reconstruction, ensuring safety and functionality within FDA MI and TI index levels of 2 and 6, respectively. We will evaluate the use of a 1.5 MHz FUS for in-vitro bone defect treatment, utilizing a sono-ink composed of …

Development Of Crispr-Integrated Amplification-By-Polymerization For Detection Of Salmonella, Mekeeda Judah, Korin Murray, Deshae Mccoy, Peng He, Tom Kasputis, Juhong Chen, Mac Michael Rubio

2025 Honors College Research Symposium

Salmonella is listed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as one of the most common foodborne pathogens and it is a bacterium to trigger symptomatic infections with experiencing diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. Genomic DNA from Salmonella as a target analyte can be used for assay development, verification, and validation in monitoring Salmonella contamination to secure food and food supply chain safety. The technology of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is a gene editing tool acting as precise molecular scissors to cut a target sequence. He et al. developed an “Amplification-by-Polymerization (AbP)” in biosensing technique …

Screening Cell Adhesion Molecules For A Role In Regeneration After Pinch Injury In Drosophila Neurons, Jada N. Mars, Mia A. Brantley, Katherine L. Thompson-Peer

2025 Honors College Research Symposium

Dendrites are outgrowths from the cell body, or soma, of neurons. The primary function of dendrites is to receive information from other neurons or surrounding tissues. We use the ddaC Class IV neurons of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster PNS, or peripheral nervous system, to study dendrite regeneration and why dendritic arbors regenerate imperfectly. The interaction between the dendrites and these surrounding tissues are mediated by different proteins and receptors, called cell adhesion molecules (CAM). The study objective is to perform a screen to determine obvious visual differences in dendrite regeneration after downregulating the expression of different CAMs through RNA …

Investigating The Role Of Moringa Oleifera In Nf-Kb Inhibition In T Cells, Hayla Scott, Joshua Hayes, Tahani Alamin, Radiah C. Minor

2025 Honors College Research Symposium

Nuclear Factor of kappa B (NF-κB) is implicated in many diseases and is a target for therapeutic interventions. Many anti-inflammatory pharmacological drugs are derived from plants. Moringa oleifera or the “miracle tree” has health benefits. Moringa extracts have been shown to inhibit inflammatory responses in macrophages through a mechanism involving NF-κB. Moringa also impacts T cell function, but whether it inhibits NF-κB activation in T cells is unknown. Our lab is interested in characterizing the impact of Moringa oleifera on T cells. To specifically investigate the impact of Moringa on NF-κB activation in T cells, we will culture Jurkat E6.1 …

Development Of Crispr-Integrated Amplification-By-Polymerization For Detection Of Salmonella, Korin Murray, Makeeda Judah, Daeshe’ Mccoy, Daniel Boamah, Tom Kasputis, Juhong Chen Ph.D., Peng He

2025 Honors College Research Symposium

Salmonella is listed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as one of the most common foodborne pathogens and it is a bacterium to trigger symptomatic infections with experiencing diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. Genomic DNA from Salmonella as a target analyte can be used for assay development, verification, and validation in monitoring Salmonella contamination to secure food and food supply chain safety. The technology of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is a gene editing tool acting as precise molecular scissors to cut a target sequence. He et al. developed an “Amplification-by-Polymerization (AbP)” in biosensing technique …

Molecular Level Understanding Of Epitope Binding Mimicry Leading To Onset Of Type 1 Diabetes (T1d), Joshua Wilkins, Julio C. Facelli, Ryan Gardner, Sejal Mistry, Ramkiran Gouripeddi

2025 Honors College Research Symposium

Molecular mimicry, where foreign and self-peptides contain similar epitopes, can induce autoimmune responses. Identifying potential molecular mimics and studying their properties is key to understanding the onset of autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Previous work identified pairs of infectious epitopes (EINF) and T1DM epitopes (ET1D) that demonstrated sequence homology; however, structural homology was not considered. Correlating sequence homology with structural properties is important for streamlining translational investigation of potential molecular mimics. This work compares sequence homology with structural homology by calculating the structures and electrostatic potentials of 35 pairs of epitopes identified in previous work. For …

Antiracism In Medical Education: Utilizing An Integrated Framework For Tailored Trainings, Sofiia Khugaeva, Anna Razvi, Madeleine Will, Alexandra Mandewo, Sita Ramaiya, Chelsea Murillo-Parra, Maranda C. Ward Edd, Mph

GW Research Showcase 2021-2026

No abstract provided.

Alvar Aalto: Past. Present.Future, Matthew Collins

Interior Design Capstones

Alvar Aalto serves as a timeless guide for architectural and design principles. These principles are not of universal rigidness but are flexible based on the givenconditions of site, culture, and people. His traditionalmethods of sketching and drawing create a hand to mind connection to the design process. This process, much like his work, develops a mindful and thoughtful outcome of decisions. With computer technology become more increasingly apart of our lives, it is important that we not forget the human point of view rather than purely a rational mode of thinking. This capstone project address how it is possible to …

Deconstructing Ancient Allegories: Eleanor Antin’S 'Historical Takes' On Subverting Classical Motifs And Typologies, Lainey Tomasoski

Undergraduate Theses in Art History

The New York-born artist Eleanor Antin erupted into the male-dominated American conceptual photography art scene in the 1960s and 70s with feminist works that reimagined the female body in terms of representation and history. In congruence with the feminist and civil rights movements, conceptual photography represented a shift in how art was utilized to criticize the social and political institutions in which it is rooted. Antin and other feminist artists engaging in conceptual photography and video played with the embodiment of characters, performance of the body, and an intrinsic “self-reflexivity” of subject, viewer, and artist. However, Antin pivoted her work …

Restoring Trust: What The Missouri Supreme Court And Andragogy Can Teach The United States Supreme Court, Grant J. Shostak

Missouri Policy Journal

Confidence in the United States Supreme Court has reached an all-time low. Efforts by the Court to restore confidence, such as making a statement concerning ethics and adopting a non-binding code of conduct, seem ineffectual in restoring confidence. Andragogy, the art and science of teaching adults, may prove useful in helping to restore confidence in the Supreme Court. As the Supreme Court educates adults through its decisions, it may utilize and adapt andragogical concepts within the confines of the judicial setting to help restore confidence in its decisions and operations. The Missouri Supreme Court has implemented a number of andragogically-consistent …

Training The Brain For Better Aging, Abby Martin

Honors Projects

Aging is associated with natural changes in brain function, but certain interventions can help sustain cognitive health and mitigate risks of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. This presentation explores the significance of brain fitness as a non-pharmacological approach to enhancing cognitive function. It covers the normal aging process of the brain, key indicators of abnormal aging, and the impact of Alzheimer’s disease, including genetic predispositions and current treatment limitations. Emphasis is placed on brain training exercises, such as puzzles, board games, video games, and nostalgia-based activities, which have been shown to improve memory, attention, and problem-solving skills. Additionally, the role …

The Halmos Pulse, Spring 2025, Claudia Diaz, Dahlilah Bernstein

The Halmos Pulse

No abstract provided.

True Self: A Curriculum Evaluation Aimed At Mitigating Internalizing And Externalizing Behaviors In At-Risk Middle School Youth, Lisa M. Dailey

Doctor of Education (EdD)

The purpose of this mixed methods curriculum evaluation was to study the efficacy of a recently published curriculum, True Self, being piloted in a middle school to support students in a Tier 3 reengagement program. Given a healthy multitiered system has 5%–7% of students needing individualized support, the study consisted of three student participants. True Self offers schools a resource written by authors who have extensive experience working with at-risk youth. Moreover, using a research-based curriculum saves educators time on finding or creating material—time they should be using for case management and direct student support. Quantitative metrics to analyze the …

Fetal Personhood And The Judicial Erosion Of Women's Rights Following Dobbs, Brendan Williams

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its prior precedents recognizing a constitutional right to abortion, a recognition that began nearly a half-century before with its decision in Roe vs. Wade. In its granting certiorari in a case involving a Mississippi law restricting abortion, the New York Times reported that the Court majority took advantage of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by allowing “Mississippi to perform a baitand-switch, widening what had been a narrower attempt to restrict abortion while she was alive into a full assault on Roe — the kind …

Enhancing Metacognitive Competencies Through Human-Centered Ai: The Role Of Custom-Trained Intelligent Agents In Workforce Upskilling, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

This editorial examines the integration of human-computer intelligent interaction (HCII), specifically through human-centered artificial intelligence (AI) and custom-trained intelligent agents, to foster metacognitive competencies critical for workforce upskilling. With 59% of the workforce projected to require substantial upskilling by 2030, developing personalized AI models tailored to individual cognitive and learning profiles presents an innovative pathway. These custom-trained agents leverage human-computer interaction (HCI) technologies and machine learning methodologies to enhance understanding of one’s own learning processes-metacognition-thus empowering individuals to optimize their future learning and adaptability. This approach not only enhances the individual’s ability to engage effectively with complex tasks in the …

Analysis Of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Cards Toxin In The Air-Liquid Interface Bronchial Culture Model, Alexandria Hernandez

Posters - 2025

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a pathogen that can cause severe respiratory infection that can rarely be life threating. There are currently no vaccines against M. pneumoniae, and the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant strains of M. pneumoniae is on the rise.1 During infection, M. pneumoniae produces a toxin called Community Acquired Respiratory Distress Syndrome (CARDS) toxin, which plays a role in establishing infection. Analysis of the crystal structure of CARDS toxin protein reveals three protein domains: D1, D2,and D3.

After entering a cell, CARDS toxin traffics by a retrograde process to the ER of the cell, where it undergoes processing.4 Our current studies …