Forecasting Chemoradiation Response Midtreatment For High-Grade Gliomas Through Patient-Specific Biology-Based Modeling, David A Hormuth, Maguy Farhat, Bikash Panthi, Holly Langshaw, Mihir D Shanker, Wasif Talpur, Sara Thrower, Jodi Goldman, Sophia Ty, Calliope Custer, Jeanne Kowalski, Thomas E Yankeelov, Caroline Chung

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: The entire course of radiation therapy (RT) for high-grade glioma (HGG) is currently derived from pre-RT magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although it is possible to adapt RT during the course of treatment, it is often guided only by anatomical changes to the tumor. This study seeks to determine if a biology-based mathematical model, parameterized by patient-specific, multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) data, can accurately forecast HGG response during RT.

Methods and materials: Twenty one patients with HGG planned for 6 weeks of concurrent RT and chemotherapy were imaged weekly with mpMRI during RT and at 1, 2, and 3 months post-RT. …

Kras Inhibition Activates An Actionable Cd24 "Do Not Eat Me" Signal In Pancreatic Cancer, Yongkun Wei, Minghui Liu, Er-Yen Yen, Jun Yao, Zhenzhen Xun, Phuoc T Nguyen, Xiaofei Wang, Zecheng Yang, Abdelrahman Yousef, Dean Pan, Yanqing Jin, Ching-Fei Li, Madelaine S Theardy, Jangho Park, Yiming Cai, Mitsunobu Takeda, Matthew Vasquez, Elizabeth M Park, David H Peng, Yong Zhou, Hong Zhao, Timothy P Heffernan, Andrea Viale, Huamin Wang, Stephanie S Watowich, Han Liang, Dan Zhao, Ronald A Depinho, Wantong Yao, Haoqiang Ying

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

KRASG12C inhibitors (G12Ci) have produced encouraging, albeit modest and transient, clinical benefit in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Identifying and targeting resistance mechanisms to G12Ci treatment is therefore crucial. To better understand the function of KRASG12C and possible G12Ci bypass mechanisms, we developed an autochthonous KRASG12C-driven PDAC model. Compared to the classical KRASG12D PDAC model, the G12C model exhibits slower tumor growth, yet similar histopathological and molecular features. Aligned with clinical experience, G12Ci treatment of KRASG12C tumors produced modest impact despite stimulating a ‘hot’ tumor immune microenvironment. Immunoprofiling revealed that CD24, a ‘don’t eat me’ signal, is significantly upregulated on cancer …

Tubulin Regulates Stability And Localization Of Stmn2 By Binding Preferentially To Its Soluble Form, Xiang Deng, Gary A Bradshaw, Marian Kalocsay, Timothy Mitchison

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The small, tubulin-binding protein STMN2 is highly expressed in neurons and is implicated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. STMN2 degrades rapidly and accumulates at axotomy sites, suggesting fast turnover is crucial for its neuroprotective function. We show that STMN2 was primarily degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Its membrane-targeting N-terminal domain promoted fast turnover, whereas its tubulin-binding domain promoted stabilization. Proximity labeling and imaging showed that tubulin binding reduced STMN2 targeting to trans-Golgi network membranes. Pull-down assays showed that tubulin binds preferentially to soluble over membrane-bound STMN2. Our observations suggest that STMN2 interconverts between a soluble, tubulin-bound form and a membrane-bound, tubulin-free …

The Impact Of Value Co-Creation On Organizational Resilience In Small And Medium-Sized Traditional Foreign Trade Enterprises, Dan Yan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Against the backdrop of increasing uncertainty in the global business environment, international scholarly attention to individual, group, and organizational resilience has risen significantly. Chinese export trading enterprises—especially small and medium-sized export trading enterprises(SMETEs)—face disadvantages such as small scale, weak financing capacity, limited access to information, and low brand strength. After experiencing shocks from digital transformation, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia–Ukraine war, and the European energy crisis, these firms have been compelled to reconsider how to enhance their organizational resilience in order to adapt to an increasingly turbulent external environment.

First, this study selects Company H as a representative case of …

From Discrete Manufacturing To Continuous Manufacturing: Examining The Relationship Among Digital Capability, Organizational Learning, And Enterprise Performance, Demu Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In 2018, Company J launched its intelligent drive digital transformation project, which was completed and entered operation in 2021. That December, the project obtained certification under Zhejiang Province's "1353" system for the future factory enterprises, marking a successful transition from discrete to continuous manufacturing. To address the asynchronous flows of logistics, information, personnel, capital, and value indiscrete manufacturing enterprises, as well as pain points such as lowper capita output, long product delivery cycles, and low annual inventory turnover rates, this study, based on organizational learning theory, constructs ananalytical model encompassing digital capability (independent variable X), organizational learning (mediating variable Z), …

The Impact Of Top Management Team Heterogeneity On Corporate Green Innovation, Xueyan Luo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

At present, green innovation has become a key path for enterprises to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. However, existing research pays limited attention to how internal governance factors—especially top management team (TMT) heterogeneity—affect green innovation. Based on Upper Echelons Theory, managerial cognition theory, and institutional theory, this paper constructs a framework of “TMT heterogeneity–green strategic orientation–green innovation,” and explores the impact of different types of heterogeneity and the moderating role of regional innovation environments. Heterogeneity is categorized into conflict-type (gender, age, financial background) and complementary-type (educational, professional, overseas background) to better explain its mechanisms.

Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed …

Finding Utopia: An Examination Of Pedagogical Approaches To Teaching Utopianism In U.S. College Classrooms, Brittany Page Brake

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how, and if, utopianism is being taught in college classrooms across the United States. Long considered impractical, overly idealistic, and/or politically dangerous, utopianism has been largely marginalized in political science and American culture. However, this project finds that there are instructors teaching utopianism and they are using the concept to challenge students to think differently about governance, justice, and institutional design. Drawing from political theory literature, course syllabi submitted by faculty from different U.S. universities, interviews with instructors, and personal case studies of my own courses at Central State University and Manchester University, I explore how utopian …

Environmental Beliefs Among Evangelical Leadership, Jeffrey Stark

Dissertations

There has been consensus among climate scientists for over a decade about the reality of human caused climate change. Even with this consensus, the public understanding of this issue remains divided based on factors generally unrelated to the science. Evangelical Protestants are one group which consistently polls as more skeptical of climate change. This is true not only when compared to the general population but also when compared to other religious demographics. Most large-scale surveys of evangelicals assume the demographic to be a monolith and do not attempt to break the demographic down further. In this mixed methods study, we …

Regulatory Settlement, Stare Decisis, And Loper Bright, Lisa Schultz Bressman, Kevin M. Stack

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In Loper Bright v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court adopted and deployed a particular narrative about agency action in support of overruling Chevron: Agencies reverse their own statutory interpretations “as much as [they] like[],” creating pervasive instability in the law, thereby destroying private reliance interests. Based on a study of two decades of agency regulations affirmed by the D.C. Circuit under Chevron, we show how infrequently agencies reversed their interpretive positions. Our study suggests that the Court’s regulatory “whiplash” narrative is overstated and that there is an underappreciated institutional settlement for notice-and-comment rules under Chevron. Identifying this regulatory settlement …

Bundled For The Beyond: Material Analysis Of A Canine Mummy Bundle For Contextualizing And Conserving Legacy Objects, Sascha Anna-Rose Baldauf

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Legacy collections¹ and objects with little context are often untapped opportunities for both museums and museum studies students. The purpose of this study is to display how students can utilize object research to engage in experiential learning and develop their skillset in scientific methodologies and disseminating findings, while also offering museums the opportunity to develop relationships with research facilities and benefit from student research findings. This study demonstrates the utility of student research by investigating an Egyptian canid mummy bundle, dating to the Late Period² or early Ptolemaic Period³, received by the Museum of Anthropology at …

Short-Arc Angles-Only Initial Orbit Determination For Leo And Geo Objects Using A Genetic Algorithm, Joseph R. Piini

Master's Theses

An ever-growing interest in utilizing space for scientific, commercial, and defense applications has led to an exponential rise in orbital debris recent years. With this sharp increase in space objects comes a greatly increased risk of potential collisions, necessitating an increase in Space Situational Awareness. In order to best mitigate the risk of future collisions in an increasingly congested space environment, it is crucial to be able to accurately determine the orbits of these new objects for trajectory tracking. This process is initial orbit determination (IOD), and is especially difficult when only observation angles are available for short observation times. …

Metabolic Dysfunction Caused By Dietary Oxylipins And The Environmental Toxicant Pfos, Jazmine Alexis Eccles-Miller

All Dissertations

Disruption of fat metabolism is a hallmark of metabolic disease. A liver enzyme, Cytochrome P450 2B6 (CYP2B6) is an anti-obesity enzyme that produced several omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid metabolites that could contribute to metabolic diseases such as fatty liver disease. Two of these metabolites, 9-HODE and 9-HOTrE, may be associated with fatty liver. Mice were exposed to 9-HODE and 9-HOTrE to investigate whether they contribute to fatty liver disease under fasting conditions. A transgenic mice model expressing the human enzyme CYP2B6 was also fasted to determine if CYP2B6 leads to increased fatty liver under fasting conditions compared to a …

A Mixed Methods Study Of The Weather And Climate Science Curriculum Pilot In South Carolina K-12 Schools, 4-H, And Agricultural Education Programs, Emily B. Hood

All Dissertations

Weather and climate science topics in K-12 education are more important now than ever due to extreme weather and climate events happening worldwide. Most U.S. science teachers included climate science in their courses, but they may not have a sufficient background in the topic which can hinder their efforts, or there is no explicit curriculum for the teacher to utilize. Research indicates that there is a need for innovation in the curriculum to help prepare children to become the next generation of leaders and address complex problems, such as issues related to weather and climate science. There are a few …

School Discipline Bylaws In Egypt: An Analysis Of The Framing Of Children’S Rights In Education (2014–2024), Noha Ekram Hassan

All Dissertations

This study investigates how Egypt’s School Discipline Bylaws (SDB), issued between 2014 and 2024, construct the language of discipline, children’s rights, and school governance. Using a Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis (CADA) combined with interpretive Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the research identifies child-rights terminology within the five Bylaw versions, examines its relationship to the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and traces how these linguistic patterns change over time. The analysis also explores the discursive framing of discipline, sanctions, and agency, alongside a rubric-based evaluation of the SDB’s alignment with CRC principles of protection, participation, and …

Enhancing Teacher Planning Practices To Improve Teacher Self-Efficacy Through Professional Learning Communities, Philip L. Price

All Dissertations

This improvement science dissertation investigated the impact of implementing Professional Learning Communities (PLC) on teacher self-efficacy at Parkway Elementary, a Title I school serving a diverse student population with historically lower academic performance. The study addressed the problem of low teacher self-efficacy, a critical factor influencing Tier 1 instructional quality and student outcomes. Utilizing the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle, this research tested the theory that adopting a four-question framework within weekly collaborative grade-level meetings would measurably increase teacher self-efficacy. Seven teachers participated in the research, with data collected through the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale, semi-structured interviews, and PLC observations. Quantitative findings …

Examining The Roles Of Embodiment And Theory Of Mind In Shaping User Perceptions Of Llm-Driven Conversational Agents, Elizabeth A. Schlesener

All Dissertations

Large Language Models (LLMs) have advanced conversational agents, enabling natural, human-like interactions in domains such as education, programming, and workplace collaboration. Yet, user distrust persists over privacy, accuracy, and bias. As developers work to mitigate these issues and human-AI collaboration expands, reinforcing trust in LLM-driven systems is essential. To address this problem, this dissertation explores the role of anthropomorphic form in LLM-driven conversational agents and its impact on user perception.

According to the familiarity thesis, humans attribute human-like characteristics to nonhuman entities — a process known as anthropomorphism — to better comprehend unfamiliar phenomena, based on the assumption that they …

Ai In Consideration Of Her: Accounting For Gendered Workplace Dynamics In The Design And Evaluation Of Human-Centered Ai Integration In Everyday Workplaces, Kelsea S. Schulenberg

All Dissertations

Rapid advancements in the technical capabilities and availability of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, have drawn widespread attention to the opportunities and challenges associated with AI integration into everyday workplaces (i.e., office-type work). Following calls for organizations to consider the ethical and workplace-specific impacts of generative AI's use before integrating it into the workplace, this dissertation addresses three critical gaps in Human-Centered Computing (HCC) and AI workplace integration research. First, this dissertation unpacks the underdeveloped links between women's representation - or lack thereof - in AI-related fields and how their experiences with gendered workplace dynamics in …

Surface Reaction And Transportation Of Radium-226 In Marine Systems, Jiusi Wang

All Dissertations

Historical uses of radium (Ra)-containing self-luminous paint, such as on gauges and dials in naval ships, have led to the potential for such paint, and thus Ra, to be released into the marine environment. Radium-226 (²²⁶Ra) behavior in marine systems is not fully described in the literature, presenting a knowledge gap in the process of evaluating potential ecological impact of Ra in marine systems. This study explores various mechanisms contributing to Ra environmental transport in marine systems on a laboratory scale, including leaching, sorption, and diffusion. ²²⁶Ra leaching from watch hand dials containing radioactive luminous paint is …

Horticultural Strategies To Improve Yield And Efficiency For Controlled-Environment Cannabis Production, Michael John Alden

All Dissertations

Controlled-environment cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) production is a novel horticultural industry due to long-standing federal prohibitions associated with production, distribution, and consumption of this species. Many cannabis production methods are based on legacy knowledge and hypotheses that often contradict standard practices used in the agriculture and floriculture sectors. During this research, several horticultural practices were evaluated, including shoot number manipulation, fertilizer restriction, harvest timing, and photoperiod manipulation. Shoot number manipulation was achieved by repeatedly pinching apical shoots, which reduced reproductive shoot length (cm/shoot) and improved inflorescence:trim ratio, both of which can reduce material cost in production and labor cost …

Redefining The Script: Autonomy, Agency And Advocacy Among Black Women Educators, Racquel Plummer

All Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study examines how Black women educators working with scripted curricula exercise autonomy, agency, and advocacy in elementary school contexts. Guided by interpretive phenomenology, the inquiry centers on lived experience and meaning-making. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ten educators, supplemented by reflexive journaling, member checking, and peer debriefing to enhance the trustworthiness of the findings. Analysis used iterative, thematic methods within a hermeneutic circle.

Two questions shaped the design. What beliefs and perceptions do Black women educators hold about autonomy, agency, and advocacy in scripted classrooms? How do they negotiate professional identity and role within mandates? …

The Bandwagon Model, Dean A. Williams

All Dissertations

Professional sports teams are in the entertainment market where owners of teams invest in players with the hopes of converting their talents into wins, and in turn, added revenues for their team. To gain an understanding of the incentives that shape these team talent investment decisions, prior economists have created theoretical models of professional sports leagues that give predictions regarding the cost to acquire talent, and the winning percentage of teams from different market sizes. These models are then used to show how team talent investment decisions change once professional sports leagues implement policies such as first-year player drafts, salary …

Legitimacy, Learning, And Launch: Exploring Relationships, Community, And Connection In An Undergraduate Research Experience, Randi J. Sims

All Dissertations

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are critically important methods for integrating undergraduate students into legitimate scientific practices. While widely celebrated for producing positive outcomes such as increased self-efficacy, research skills, and STEM retention, less is known about the processes through which undergraduate mentees become integrated members of their research groups and the broader scientific community. This dissertation presents findings from both a systematic literature review and a quantitative ethnographic study of a biological sciences URE at a southeastern R1 predominantly white institution (PWI). Grounded in communities of practice and legitimate peripheral participation frameworks, this study explores how undergraduate researchers build relationships, …

Hydrodynamics Of Perforated Heave Plates, Muhammad Usman

All Dissertations

Ocean waves are a clean and renewable energy source that can help reduce dependence on fossil fuels and combat climate change. To capture this energy, researchers have developed devices known as wave energy converters (WECs). One common type, called a two-body point absorber WEC, uses a buoy floating on the ocean surface connected to a submerged reaction plate, known as the heave plate, which lies underwater. The relative up-and-down motion between the buoy and the heave plate, driven by ocean waves, generates usable power via a power take-off (PTO) system. Traditionally, these submerged heave plates are solid structures. However, this …

There, But Not There: Pre-Service Teacher Identity And Transformation In The Internship Semester, Jacob G. Warren

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive multiple-case study investigates how five secondary pre-service teachers constructed and negotiated their professional identities during the internship semester. Guided by a single overarching research question—How do pre-service teachers form and narratively negotiate their identities as educators within the liminal space of the internship?—the study conceptualizes identity as a dynamic, socially mediated, and storied process. Sociocultural theory and narrative identity theory provide the analytical framework, emphasizing development through interaction, participation, and reflective meaning-making. Participants were enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts in Teaching program and completed internship placements in middle and high school classrooms. Data were collected through pre-internship …

Unraveling Nucleation Mechanisms In Membrane Distillation: A Molecular Dynamics And Enhanced Sampling Approach, Nazanin Abbasi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Membrane distillation offers a promising route for desalination but remains limited by salt scaling, where mineral crystals nucleate and grow in concentrated brines. To inform strategies that mitigate scaling, this thesis investigates homogeneous nucleation in supersaturated aqueous NaCl solutions using molecular dynamics and enhanced sampling techniques. Several collective variables (CVs) are tested to capture the early stages of ion aggregation and crystal formation, including ion–ion coordination number, dehydration, and bond orientational order parameters Q₄ and Q₆. Enhanced sampling techniques, such as metadynamics and umbrella sampling, are employed to overcome the high free energy barriers associated with the formation of critical …

Hormonal Control Of Seawater Acclimation In The Intestine Of The Atlantic Killifish (Fundulus Heteroclitus), Karma Je Hine

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Atlantic killifish (Fundulus Heteroclitus) is a teleost found in brackish water estuaries, which are subject to large fluctuations in salinity, that handles osmotic stress by triggering compensatory actions across their osmoregulatory organs. As the external salinity increases, the killifish intestine exhibits a high degree of phenotypic plasticity, as the protein composition of the gut epithelium can be modified to absorb desalinated water (H2O) from ingested seawater (SW). Three osmoregulatory hormones, prolactin (P), growth hormone (GH), and cortisol (F), have been observed to be crucial for these transitions to occur in many species of teleosts, including killifish. This research sought …

“No Man Is An Island:” A Critical Discourses Analysis Of Newspaper Reporting On The Marshallese Community In Northwest Arkansas, Johana Vazquez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to examine local newspaper coverage of the Marshallese community in Northwest Arkansas from 1998 to 2017 and analyze discourses that could be attributed to linguistic bias, stereotypes, and Pacific transnationalism. This analysis examines how marginalized immigrants are portrayed in local news coverage using a critical discourse analysis (CDA). The study analyzes the labels and metaphors used in the coverage of Marshallese immigration, adapts the Stereotype Content Model for a discourse analysis, and compares the experiences of Marshallese in the area with larger scholarly work on Pacific transnationalism. The researcher analyzed 11 published pieces from …

El Leñador, December 2025, El Leñador Staff

El Leñador Newspaper

El Leñador is an English and Spanish newspaper produced by Humboldt State University students. Our staff cover and provide news to Latinx and other diverse communities on campus and in Humboldt County. We are committed to providing relevant news and expanding the representations and stories told about people of color and other marginalized groups. Our work helps create more social, political and cultural diversity in local media.

El Leñador es un periodico en español y inglés producido por estudiantes de la Universidad Estatal de Humboldt. Nuestro personal cubre y provee noticias a la comunidad Latinx y otras comunidades diversas en …

Impact Of Thermodynamic Factors And Intrinsic Properties On Crystallization Behavior And Physical Properties Of Edible Fats, Nabila Anjum

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Crystallization behavior of three edible fats: interesterified soybean oil (IESBO), interesterified palm olein (IEPO), and fully hydrogenated palm kernel oil (FHPKO) were explored to understand how this process is affected by different factors. The study focused on how the chemical composition of these fats affects their behavior like how much time they require to be crystallized at a certain temperature. By using different scientific methods, how quickly each fat began to crystallize and how much energy it took to start the process was measured. Among the methods used, Gompertz equation, a mathematical model, gave the most consistent and reliable results …

Golden Eagle Predation Of Greater Sage-Grouse On Diamond Mountain Plateau, Victoria E. Thorpe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Predation and the perceived risk of predation can have major impacts on prey populations. Golden Eagles are considered one of the main predators of adult greater sage-grouse. Sage-grouse populations have been declining for decades throughout the West and wildlife managers are concerned about the impacts of golden eagles on sage-grouse. We investigated the nonconsumptive effects of golden eagles on sage-grouse by conducting observational surveys for golden eagles, sage-grouse, and other predators at sage-grouse lek sites near Vernal, Utah during the sage-grouse breeding season from 2022–2024. Additionally, we examined the prevalence of sage-grouse in golden eagle diet using DNA metabarcoding of …