Digital Commons Network^™

Detention Before Adjudication: Evaluating Its Role In Juvenile Justice Outcomes, Ella Morrow

2026 Spring Honors Capstones Projects

Pre-adjudication detention involves confining juveniles while they await a hearing, aimed at ensuring court appearance and upholding public safety. However, the use of pre-adjudication detention has expanded significantly, which has raised concerns regarding the impact on juvenile justice outcomes. This study reviews established peer-reviewed research and observational data from internships to evaluate how this type of detention influences legal outcomes and juvenile development. The research findings demonstrate that detention is associated with harsher dispositions, higher recidivism rates, and long-term consequences. For example, a 38% reduction in high school graduation rates is attributed to pre-adjudication detention. Research has also shown that …

Cripping The Border – Acompañamiento As Access: An Ethnographic Case Study Of Transborder Youth With Disabilities, Marco O. Amaral

Dissertations

The U.S.-Mexico border is a historical, geopolitical site of intense militarization where colonial logics of "othering" converge to marginalize disabled transborder youth. While transborder studies have expanded, students with disabilities remain relegated to the "void" and contained by educational systems that prioritize surveillance over access. Grounded in Sepúlveda’s (2011) acompañamiento and Transborder DisCrit, this ethnographic case study examines the lived experiences of both students and their families who cross the border daily to attend school in the U.S. It frames these journeys not as mere commutes, but as acts of defiance within the broader disability rights movement.

As a teacher-activist, …

Loss Of Znrf3/Rnf43 Unleashes Egrfr In Cancer, Fei Yue, Amy T Ku, Payton D Stevens, Megan N Michalski, Weiyu Jiang, Jianghua Tu, Zhongcheng Shi, Yongchao Dou, Yi Wang, Xin-Hua Feng, Galen Hostetter, Xiangwei Wu, Shixia Huang, Noah F Shroyer, Bing Zhang, Bart O Williams, Qingyun Liu, Xia Lin, Yi Li

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

ZNRF3 and RNF43 are closely related transmembrane E3 ubiquitin ligases with significant roles in development and cancer. Conventionally, their biological functions have been associated with regulating WNT signaling receptor ubiquitination and degradation. However, our proteogenomic studies have revealed EGFR as the protein most negatively correlated with ZNRF3/RNF43 mRNA levels in multiple human cancers. Through biochemical investigations, we demonstrate that ZNRF3/RNF43 interact with EGFR via their extracellular domains, leading to EGFR ubiquitination and subsequent degradation facilitated by the E3 ligase RING domain. Overexpression of ZNRF3 reduces EGFR levels and suppresses cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo, whereas knockout of …

Constitutive Ampk Activation Prevents Hepatocellular Carcinoma Development Through Inhibition Of Hnf4Α Activity, Zhen Sun, Bernard Linares, Cassidy Urdiales, Fiyad Alsarmi, Boyuan Sang, Nagireddy Putluri, Jeanine L Van Nostrand

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major cause of cancer-related mortality and is largely driven by metabolic disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. The AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a master regulator of metabolism, and its activation has been proposed as a therapeutic strategy for treating metabolic disorders. However, although AMPK activity is down-regulated in HCC, the precise role of AMPK in HCC development has not been clearly delineated. Here, we investigated the ability of constitutive AMPK activation to prevent HCC development using a constitutively active AMPK transgenic mouse model and a pharmacological AMPK activator. We observed that AMPK …

H3 Dopaminylation And Camkii Modulate Diffuse Midline Glioma Response To Cdk9 Inhibition, Rebecca L Murdaugh, Brittany R Eberl, Rosemary U Richard, Ena I Campos-Hensley, Adanze N Nnyagu, W Austin Elam, Ai-Ni Tsao, Jack R Tremblay, Ruiying Ma, Alfred K Dei-Ampeh, Kieu Pham, Daniel C Kraushaar, Kwanha Yu, Calla M Olson, Akdes Serin-Harmanci, Benjamin Deneen, Jamie N Anastas

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Aberrant neurotransmitter signaling and transcriptional dysregulation are hallmarks of gliomagenesis and represent potential therapeutic targets. Monoamine neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin primarily activate GPCRs but can also function epigenetically as histone H3 modifications. Here, we uncover mechanisms of crosstalk between monoamine neurotransmitter signaling, H3 dopaminylation, and RNA polymerase II (Pol2) transcription in diffuse midline glioma (DMG). We find that co-treatment with Pol2-targeting CDK9 inhibitors (CDK9i) and FDA-approved neuropsychiatric drugs, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), synergistically reduces DMG growth. Mechanistically, CDK9i+SSRI treatment alters H3 dopaminylation patterns and represses synaptic and neurodevelopmental gene transcription associated with CDK9i resistance. Further phospho-proteomic …

Condensate State As Determinant Of Amyloid Pathology In Neurodegeneration, Lathan Lucas, Josephine C Ferreon, Allan Chris M Ferreon

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Neurodegenerative diseases arise when normally functional aggregation-prone proteins transition into stable cross-β amyloid fibrils. Although these fibrils share a conserved architecture, the pathways that lead to fibrillation vary across proteins and cellular environments. Liquid-liquid phase separation is now recognized as a central organizer of intracellular biochemistry that modulates protein aggregation. Physiological condensation can buffer aggregation by maintaining macromolecular solubility and providing partner interactions that compete against pathological protein-protein interactions. However, condensates can transform and age into gel-like states that can favor the emergence of β-rich oligomers and solid-state fibrils. Across six disease-linked proteins that include Tau, α-synuclein, amyloid-β, TDP-43, FUS, …

Exploring How Long-Term Residents Influence Environmental Policy Decisions In The Takushara Settlement In Abuja, Nigeria, Agbanusi Uchechukwu Jonathan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Rapid urbanization of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has increasingly marginalized indigenous communities, creating a significant disconnect between top-down environmental governance and how it affects residents. Previous research has found that this land swap displaces indigenous stewards and erodes their traditional ecological knowledge, endangering local livelihoods, food security, and sustainable management of natural resources. The purpose of this narrative qualitative study was to explore how long-term residents perceive and experience their influence in environmental policy decisions through the lens of the social-ecological systems framework and the theory of resilience. This study examined the systematic exclusion of long-term residents of the …

Exploring The Perceptions Of Black Nurse Educators Regarding Antiracist Pedagogy In Nursing Education, Deborah Ann Stallworth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Racism remains a persistent issue in nursing, prompting calls to create more inclusive educational environments and confront racial disparities. Guided by an intersectionality and critical realism framework, this generic qualitative study examined how Black nursing educators perceive antiracist pedagogy, how they implement it, and what they believe is needed to strengthen its adoption in nursing education. Twelve Black undergraduate nursing educators participated in in‑depth, one‑on‑one interviews. Thematic analysis generated four themes: (a) implementing antiracist pedagogy in the classroom; (b) challenges and resistance within school environments; (c) racial marginalization norms in nursing education, and (d) advocacy and vision for institutional reform …

Single-Cell Tcr Mapping Reveals Spatially Coordinated T Cell States In Head And Neck Cancer, Kelli A Mccord, Emerald Kan, Sean Hyslop, Amanda Y Xia, Colby J Hofferek, James S Lewis, Andreas Wieland, David J Hernandez, Vlad C Sandulache, William H Hudson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Current spatial T cell receptor (TCR) profiling approaches lack the resolution needed to link clonal identity, transcriptional state, and spatial positioning of individual T cells in the tumor microenvironment. Here, we introduce a spatial TCR profiling strategy that resolves individual T cell clones together with their transcriptional states at single-cell resolution and applied the method to human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Presumed tumor-specific T cells were broadly dispersed throughout the tumor microenvironment, and cells of the same clone occupied distinct transcriptional states in different locations: Immune-rich regions contained more plastic or progenitor cells, whereas tumor-dense regions were enriched …

Two-Dimensional Inverse Scattering Solution Using Nurbs Expansion And A Deep Learning Method, Meisam Shafaee

Turkish Journal of Physics

This paper presents a novel framework for solving two-dimensional (2D) inverse scattering problems by integrating nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) parameterization with convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Tra ditional pixel/voxel-based deep learning methods often suffer from high dimensionality and discretization artifacts, while purely geometric approaches lack robust inversion mechanisms. To address these limitations, we propose a hybrid frame work where the relative permittivity profile of an unknown scatterer is compactly represented as a NURBS surface, parameterized by a sparse set of control points and weights. This approach reduces the problem dimensionality over 16 times. On the other hand, using NURBS expansion ensures …

Security Risks Of Ai-Generated Code In Software Development, Maame Agyekum

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

Artificial Intelligence(AI) has recently forced change globally, public Institutions and as well as national security. Advancement in machine learning, mixed datasets have enabled significantly powerful systems while being capable of operating at a large scale. As innovation and technological advancement increases at rapid pace, issues like a regulation gap where scientific development far exceeds the government’s ability to regulate and establish an effective oversight. As a result, Artificial Intelligence has been controlled by private companies, leading to an industry where speed and profit often outweigh safety and ethical responsibility.

Variability On M-Dwarf Stars And Its Effect On Exoplanet Detection, Aylin Garcia Soto

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Understanding stellar magnetic activity is crucial for exoplanet research: activity can mask signatures from exoplanet detection and characterization, and impact planetary habitability. This is particularly important for M dwarf stars, which are highly magnetically active, displaying spectroscopic and photometric signatures of flares and rotational variability. In this thesis, I will present two complementary perspectives on M dwarf magnetic activity. First, I will discuss a study of short-term variability. I made new ground-based observations of 77 M dwarfs and tested the connection between chromospheric emission and photometric variability. I find a weak positive correlation between H$\alpha$ luminosity (tracing magnetic heating) and …

A Multidomain Peptide Hydrogel-Liposome Composite For Controlled Release Of A Cyclic Dinucleotide In Oral Cancer, Joseph W R Swain, Andrea H Molina, Gemalene M Sunga, Danielle Chew-Martinez, Neeraja Dharmaraj, Alejandra Cobos Perez, Arghadip Dey, Ephraim J Vázquez-Rosado, Simon Young, Jeffrey D Hartgerink

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

While immunotherapy is a promising treatment strategy for cancer, the majority of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients treated with single-agent immunotherapy do not respond. Therefore, researchers are investigating combination treatments with immunostimulatory molecules that can maximize anti-tumor responses. Cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs) are STING agonists that hold promise in combination approaches, but they require frequent intratumoral administration when used in both preclinical models of HNSCC and clinical trials. To reduce administration frequency, we have created a peptide hydrogel–liposome composite system, K2-Lip(CDN), for local and prolonged availability of CDN. We investigated the loading limits of cationic liposomes in both …

Growth Potential Of Materials For Decarbonization: Insights From The Cement Industry Value Chain, Noha Mostafa

Mechanical Engineering

To meet the Paris Agreement objectives and limit global warming to 1.5˚C compared to preindustrial levels, it is estimated that the built sector must cut its total emissions by 50% before the year 2030 and fully decarbonize it by 2050. The built environment is estimated to be responsible for 40% of global energy and emissions. These global carbon emissions include both operational carbon—the day-to-day carbon emissions generated through the operation and maintenance of buildings—and embodied carbon. With its recorded high emissions, cement manufacturing is a key area of interest for the decarbonization efforts. To meet the increasing demand for sustainably …

From Stability To Spintronics: A Comprehensive High-Throughput Investigation Of 2d Mf4 Lieb Lattices, Uğur Yorulmaz

Turkish Journal of Physics

The research on two-dimensional (2D) materials which have intrinsic magnetism and exotic electronic struc tures is an important quest in condensed matter physics. The Lieb lattice offers a unique platform for studying strongly correlated electron phenomena. In this work, we systematically investigated the structural, dynamical, mechanical, electronic, and magnetic properties of monolayer transition metal tetrafluorides (MF4, where M = Ag, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hf, Mn, Mo, Nb, Ni, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ru, Sc, Ta, Ti, V, W, and Y) arranged in a 2D Lieb lattice, using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) with Hubbard (U) corrections. Our …

Challenges In The Ethical Review Process Of Covid-19 Related Research At Hrec-Tumed, Thailand, Wilaiwan Chimkhong, Thana Khawcharoenporn, Pacharapan Surapolchai

Asian Medical Journal and Alternative Medicine

Objective: To explore the challenges encountered in the ethical review process and timeline of COVID-19 related research at the Human Research Ethics Committee of Thammasat University (Medicine) (HREC-TUMED), Thailand, focusing on submission characteristics, review outcomes, and committee adaptations.

Materials and Methods: This retrospective descriptive study analyzed COVID-19 research protocols submitted to HREC-TUMED between June 2020 and July 2022. Protocols were evaluated for research types, investigator affiliations, funding sources, review types, and timeline metrics, using descriptive statistics.

Results: A total of 89 COVID-19 related research protocols were submitted to HREC-TUMED, with the majority originating from faculty investigators (64%). Most protocols underwent …

A Comparative Analysis Of Data Privacy Laws In European Union And United States: A Need For Better Protections Of Marginalized Groups In Light Of Advances In Artificial Intelligence, Lauren Demchak

Journal of International Law and Comparative Studies

No abstract provided.

Minors’ Internet Safety: The United States And China: A Comparative Approach To The Efforts And Challenges Of Lawmakers And The Society, Olga Zaynetdinova

Journal of International Law and Comparative Studies

No abstract provided.

International Law And The African Girl Child’S Right To Education, John Mukum Mbaku

Journal of International Law and Comparative Studies

No abstract provided.

Lingkungan Sebagai Subyek Hukum Dan Kewenangan Publik Lsm Lingkungan, Dr. Daud Silalahi, S.H.

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Aspek Yuridis Pemutusan Hubungan Kerja Di Perusahaan Swasta, Abdul Bari Azed

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Genetic Secrets Unveiled: Unraveling Privacy Concerns In Direct-To- Consumer Genetic Testing Between The United States And The European Union, Sofia Marie Cabrera

Journal of International Law and Comparative Studies

No abstract provided.

A Case For Idaho And Other Western States Owning Their Own Land, Alisha Urrutia

Idaho Law Review

Idaho and other states in the western United States have struggled with federal ownership and management of public lands for decades. Since 1976, when the Federal Land Management and Policy Act was enacted and the Homestead Act was repealed, states in the west have challenged the constitutionality and legal authority of the BLM to hold onto and manage western lands in a myriad of ways. This article discusses some of the most recent challenges to this system, including a lawsuit filed by the State of Utah in August of 2024. This article expands on these challenges, citing legal and political …

Facing The Accused: The Confrontation Clause And Protecting Child Victims Of Sexual Abuse, Raquel Pearson

Idaho Law Review

The Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause provides individuals the right to confront witnesses testifying against them. For decades, Idaho case law has grappled with the delicate balance between protecting victims of sexual assault and upholding defendants’ rights to cross examine their accusers. This delicate balance is further exacerbated when sexual assault cases involve minors, particularly in deciding whether victim statements implicate the Confrontation Clause. The Idaho Supreme Court considers the totality of the circumstances when evaluating whether a defendant’s right to confront a witness has been violated, but the standard for when the Clause is triggered remains unclear.

This Note seeks …

From Stigma To Statute: A Historical And Legal Comparative Analysis Of Involuntary Commitment Laws In Idaho, Jessica Cambron

Idaho Law Review

A lesser-known area of law in Idaho concerns the involuntary civil commitment process, a process by which thousands of people per year are committed to hospitals around the state. These laws, specifically in Idaho, govern the criteria which must be met for a person to be placed on an involuntary hold, detained in a hospital setting awaiting proceedings, or potentially committed.

Understanding the evolution of mental illness and the role of involuntary commitment – including successes, failures, and challenges – is essential to navigating reform. This Comment provides a brief history of mental illness, including key cultural events and cases …

Preserving Rural School Districts From The Threat Of Vouchers And Charters, Preston C. Green Iii

Idaho Law Review

School vouchers and charter schools are primed to grow at a time when public school systems are experiencing a precipitous decline in enrollment. Unfortunately, for many rural school districts, this challenging environment may endanger their very existence, to the detriment of the students and the communities they serve. To guard against this potential harm, this article calls for state legislatures to designate certain classes of rural districts as “education preserves.” This article also explains how states can create education preserves in a manner that can withstand Free Exercise Clause challenges.

Engineered For Surveillance: Public Safety, Roadway Science, And The Fourth Amendment, Trayce Hockstad, Steven Jones

Idaho Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Courier, Summer 2024, Tennessee. Historical Commission.

Tennessee Historical Commission

No abstract provided.

The Courier, Fall 2024, Tennessee. Historical Commission.

Tennessee Historical Commission

No abstract provided.

The Courier, Winter 2025, Tennessee. Historical Commission.

Tennessee Historical Commission

No abstract provided.