Digital Commons Network^™

Implementing Video Analysis And Titleist Performance Institute Level 1 Screening To Assess Sway In Collegiate Golfers, Sydney Mazur

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Golf swing mechanics are fundamental for proper performance and sustainability in the sport. Understanding the complexities of the golf swing as well are crucial in proper performance and prevent injury. Sway is a common swing fault that occurs in golfers because of improper swing fundamental mechanics. The Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) Level 1 screen is used in conjunction with video analyses to better understand swing mechanics. The purpose of this study is to better understand these specific components of the golf swing mechanics to prevent injury and improve performance for collegiate golfers. A total of 16 National Collegiate Athletic Association …

Biomechanical Profiles In Cross-Country Runners: Pca Identifies Patterns, Not Injury, Kiana Medina, Sathvi Gandra, Auston Hsieh

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Running biomechanics reflect coordinated strategies rather than isolated variable effects and are thought to influence injury risk. This study investigates whether distinct running gait patterns identified through principal component analysis (PCA) of biomechanical variables were associated with injury occurrence in collegiate cross-country athletes. Twenty-two university cross-country runners (N=22; n = 5 males, n = 17 females; age range = 18-25 years) completed a 3D biomechanical gait assessment from which we derived step frequency (SF), hip and ankle propulsive power, knee abductor moments (KAM), vertical stiffness (kvert), contralateral pelvis drop (CPD), hip adduction (HADD), time of braking force ( …

Ketone Bodies As Regulators Of Cardiac Energy Metabolism And Cardiovascular Signaling, Eera Mehrota, Anika Singh, Meghana Divi, Cynthia Chamoun, Samiksha Chemukula

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The heart has a high and continuous energy demand and depends on metabolic flexibility to maintain function under both physiological and pathological conditions. Ketone bodies, particularly β-hydroxybutyrate, have emerged as important alternative fuels for the myocardium and as biologically active signaling molecules. This review examines how ketone bodies support cardiac energy metabolism and regulate vascular and myocardial biology through intracellular signaling pathways. A narrative synthesis of peer-reviewed literature was conducted, focusing on ketone utilization in healthy and diseased hearts, metabolic remodeling in heart failure, and the non-energetic signaling roles of ketone bodies in cardiovascular tissues. Evidence indicates that ketone bodies …

Ankle Dorsiflexion Differences Due To Fatigue In Men's Division Ii Collegiate Basketball Players, James Manuel Moonnumacakal

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Previous research indicates the biomechanics at the ankle joint can lead to increased risk of injury such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear, Achilles rupture, or patellofemoral tendinopathy. Studies also revealed that the establishment of baseline ankle range-of-motion (ROM) measures can allow the decrease of injury for a team over the course of professional season. Understanding ankle ROM norms can lead to detecting critical injuries and the development of a strength and conditioning plan to help avoid injury. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship that fatigue has upon ankle ROM using a static lunge test to …

Comparative Genomics Across Ganoderma Species To Identify Secondary Metabolite Clusters With Cytotoxic Properties, Fatima Muhammad, Maya Pasapuleti, Emily Abraham, Navya Mysore

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Fungi in the genus Ganoderma have been widely studied in Chinese culture for their medicinal properties and promoting overall health and longevity. Our prior work on eight Ganoderma species showed that they contain Secondary Metabolite Clusters (SMCs) that code for multiple terpenes, betalactones, and ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs). These compounds are well known for their cytotoxic and anticancer potential. Using the bioinformatics platform antiSMASH, we previously identified and annotated the specific SMCs within these genomes that are predicted to produce such bioactive metabolites. To test the results obtained from the bioinformatics analysis, fungal extracts were prepared from …

Dft Modeling Of Steroid–Phospholipid Noncovalent Interactions: Conformations, Binding Energy, And Solvation Effects, Sohan Mothkur

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Steroids (STRs) have essential roles in human physiology and disease, regulating processes such as metabolism and immunity. STRs exert their effects through receptor-mediated pathways and by modulating cell membrane properties. STRs can intercalate into phospholipid (PL) bilayers, altering membrane properties that can influence downstream biological processes. While STR-protein interactions have been widely studied, little is known about how STR-PL interactions influence membrane properties. In this study, we used density functional theory (DFT) to investigate the interactions between testosterone (TST) and cholesterol (CHOL) with three representative PLs: phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylserine (PS), and phosphatidylglycerol (PG). STR-PL complexes were modeled using an aqueous …

University Oral Hygiene Behaviors Compared To The National Population, Noura Naami, Jordan Monteiro, Trisha Jois

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Maintaining optimal oral health is essential for preventing dental caries, periodontal disease, and systemic complications. However, the combined effects of brushing, flossing, and mouthwash, which are common oral practices, remain incompletely understood. While each practice has been studied individually, there is limited data existing that evaluates how different brands and the frequency of use interact to influence the oral environment. In this study, we use a cohort of 40 university aged individuals to examine oral hygiene behaviors compared to the general U.S. population. In regard to flossing, national data suggests that this behavior is the least consistently utilized method of …

Comparison Of Bacteria From Varied Soils With Potential Antimicrobial Activity, Nicole Nesterovitch, Nyobi Fleming, Andrew Sourial

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Antibiotic resistance is increasing at a rate that surpasses the discovery and development of new antimicrobial compounds, creating a widening resistance-innovation gap that poses a global public health concern. To address this need for new antibiotic-producing organisms, we partnered with Tiny Earth, a global initiative that engages students in antibiotic discovery through soil sample collection, bacterial isolation, and antimicrobial screening. We isolated bacteria from local soil in Davie, Florida as well as soil from the White River Badlands, South Dakota with the hypothesis that distinct soil conditions may yield different antimicrobial producers with varied activity and chemical profiles. 42 unique …

Refining Potent Stat3 Inhibitor Structure Through Molecular Docking, Dev Patel, Dev Patel

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3) plays a central role in signaling regulation in many cancers including glioblastoma. Normally, STAT3 is activated by the presence of ligand. In cancer cells, STAT3 is constitutively activated, making it a therapeutic target. STAT3 inhibitors currently used in clinical trials act by targeting upstream activators of STAT3. However, cancer cells bypass these pathways, activating STAT3 through receptor-pathway independent mechanism. Therefore, there is a need for inhibitors to directly target and inhibit STAT3, therefore blocking its function. Nitro groups (-NO₂) are being investigated as potential anti-cancer compounds. In cellular studies, IX-11 …

Assessing Recovery In Collegiate Swimmers Through Wearable Technology, Sara Quintero

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Collegiate swimmers face extreme physiological demands during high-intensity training phases like "Hell Week," a winter training intensive loading microcycle, that makes recovery monitoring critical for maintaining performance. This study investigated the relationship between sleep quality and recovery markers. Specifically, Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Resting Heart Rate (RHR), in nine female collegiate swimmers (ages 19-23) across all collegiate years. Participants included sprinters, mid-distance, and distance swimmers, leading to varied total yardage across training groups. Over an eight-day period (seven training days and one rest day), data was collected via screenshots from Garmin (n=4) and WHOOP (n=5) wearable devices. Metrics included …

Pelvic Posture And Spinal Mechanics In Collegiate Golfers: A Tpi Screening And Video Analysis, Rachel Shaw

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Understanding golf swing mechanics is essential for both performance and long-term physical sustainability. The golf swing is a complex movement requiring coordinated action of multiple joints, particularly the spine, hips, and shoulders. Even minor mechanical inefficiencies can reduce shot accuracy, distance, and consistency, while poor mechanics may increase stress on the spine, hips, shoulders, and wrists, raising injury risk. Swing analysis is especially important in collegiate golfers, who are in a critical developmental phase where performance and physical health directly influence future success. Collegiate golfers, typically aged 17-22, are adapting to higher training loads while developing peak strength and power. …

Trail-Camera Monitoring Of Gopher Tortoise Burrows And The Commensal Wildlife Across South Florida Natural Areas, Madison Smith, Heidi Martz, Coral Kovac, Olivia Baker, Javier Vasallo, Jade Andreu

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) are a keystone species whose burrows provide essential shelter for numerous commensal organisms in Florida's upland ecosystems. Understanding tortoise behavior and the wildlife activity that occurs around burrow entrances is critical for informing conservation management and public outreach. This project used motion-triggered trail cameras to document gopher tortoise activity and burrow-associated wildlife across multiple protected natural areas in South Florida. At each natural area, three active burrows were selected and monitored, resulting in three trail cameras deployed per site and nine cameras deployed in total. All cameras operated continuously over an extended observation period. …

Analysis Of Conserved Domains In Promoters Of Differentially Expressed Genes In Rice, Mahalaxmi Some, Eimaan Ahmad, Emalynn Tobias

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Plant responses to stress involve changes in gene expression, and understanding these changes is key to improving crop resilience. A critical step in this process is identifying "conserved domains" in the promoters of Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs), as these domains often provide binding sites for transcription factors. In this study, we aim to identify the Cis-Regulatory Elements (CREs) in the promoters of DEGs associated with heat stress. Previously, we identified 149 DEGs from transcriptomic analyses of two rice varieties, Cypress (heat-tolerant) and LaGrue (heat-sensitive), both exposed to high night temperatures (HNT; 82.4 ± 1°F or 28 ± 1°C). We hypothesize …

The Central Role Of Caffeine In Energy Drink Effects, Viviana Valerio, Sarah Bailey

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The goal of this study was to assess the effects of caffeine in an energy drink against a caffeine-matched control on attention span. Two double-blind groups of a total of 107 subjects were formed. Each group was either assigned to the energy drink (C4 - Nutrabolt®) or a caffeine-matched control of 200 mg of caffeine. The subjects consumed the caffeine sources and waited 45 minutes. They then completed a psychomotor vigilance test (PVT), Memtrax (memory), handgrip strength, and a wall-sit endurance test. There were no differences in the improvement (pre vs. post) of the PVT test between the caffeine-matched control …

Group Differences In Conflict Processing Between Bilinguals And Monolinguals, Isidora Varas-Sanchez, Dylan Kuni, Julia Ribeiro, Andrea Fajardo Aguilar, Alyssa Harris

Undergraduate Student Symposium

There is an ongoing debate in the literature on the existence of a bilingual advantage on tests of attention. Hypothetically, bilinguals have an advantage over monolinguals on tests of attention because both attention and language control share the same inhibitory mechanism. Because bilinguals engage this mechanism more often than monolinguals, inhibitory control is believed to be stronger and confer an advantage. However, research findings on the bilingual advantage are inconsistent and attempts to reproduce prior results have sometimes failed. The argument is that studies may have failed to capture the important aspects of language linked to attention. Prior research from …

Sexual Dimorphism In Physiological, Metabolic, And Hypothalamic Alterations In The Tg-Swdi Mouse Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Yingying Zhu, Ariana Hernandez, Natalia Noto, Victoria Pulido-Correa, Chana Vogel, Julianna Bonetti

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting 55 million people worldwide. Cognitive disruptions, linked to pathology in the hippocampus and cortical areas, are frequently observed in individuals with late manifestation of AD; however, non-cognitive dysfunctions, which contribute to poor quality of life and survival, are often overlooked. The hypothalamus plays a role in regulating homeostatic functions such as hunger, thirst, sleep, and blood pressure. The coordinated activity of hypothalamic regions such as the paraventricular nucleus, arcuate nucleus, ventromedial nucleus, dorsomedial nucleus, and lateral hypothalamus are crucial in maintaining metabolic homeostasis and neuroendocrine processes. Dysregulation of these processes has been …

Trustgen: A Platform Of Dynamic Benchmarking On The Trustworthiness Of Generative Foundation Models, Yue Huang, Et. Al

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Generative foundation models (GenFMs), such as large language models and text-to-image systems, have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in various downstream applications. As they are increasingly deployed in high-stakes applications, assessing their trustworthiness has become both a critical necessity and a substantial challenge. Existing evaluation efforts are fragmented, rapidly outdated, and often lack extensibility across modalities. This raises a fundamental question: how can we systematically, reliably, and continuously assess the trustworthiness of rapidly advancing GenFMs across diverse modalities and use cases? To address these gaps, we introduce TrustGen, a dynamic and modular benchmarking system designed to systematically evaluate the trustworthiness of GenFMs …

Draft Final 2025 Bpsou Subdrain Data Summary Report (Dsr), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Benchmark Building Condition Index Utilizing Discrete Facility Subsets For Use In Risk Prioritization Analysis, Christopher A. May

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Within the healthcare facilities management arena, key performance-based condition indices such as a calculated Building Condition Index (BCI) are currently utilized as a governing indicator of facility health and performance. However, BCI alone does not adequately support enterprise-level risk prioritization and fails to provide a validated facility-to-facility risk prioritization model. Assets within the same enterprise receiving similar sustainment funding experience different rates of degradation depending on asset type and construction age thus impairing the BCI rating scale. Statistical analysis of facility metrics indicates a strong correlation between facility degradation drivers and prediction of a subset-based benchmark BCI. The research validates …

Radicals Transforming Organic Matter: Implications For Non-Pyrogenic Black Carbon And Nitrogen Formation, Molecular Dynamics In Tropical Soils, And Lignin Valorization, João Vitor Dos Santos

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Radicals drive the transformation of organic matter in natural and engineered systems, altering its structure, reactivity, and stability. Condensed aromatic carbon (ConAC) and condensed aromatic nitrogen (ConAN) are among the most persistent forms of organic matter in soils and are traditionally interpreted as products of biomass burning. This dissertation challenges the long-standing assumption that these materials are exclusively pyrogenic, showing that iron-mediated radical chemistry can generate condensed aromatic structures under ambient conditions.

Chapters II and III show that Fenton-like radical oxidation of lignin-rich biomass produces condensed aromatic structures compositionally similar to pyrogenic black carbon and black nitrogen when assessed with …

Education And Training In Water Operator Certification And Its Role In Water Utility System Performance, Heath A. Edelman

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Access to safe and reliable drinking water is a foundational component of public health and environmental protection. The United States drinking water sector is highly regulated and increasingly challenged by workforce shortages, aging infrastructure, and variability in operator training requirements across states. Despite the federal mandate for operator certification under the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of certification policies in improving regulatory compliance outcomes remains limited.

This study examined the relationship between operator certification policies and drinking water compliance outcomes under the Safe Drinking Water Act, with particular attention to differences across violation …

Learning In Motion: How Small Groups Can Promote Self-Regulated Learning In Physical Therapy Students, Sara Mclaren

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is a critical skill for success in rigorous graduate health professions programs, where students must independently manage complex academic demands. Despite its importance, limited research has examined SRL processes among Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students in the didactic phase of training. Guided by Zimmerman’s cyclical model of self-regulated learning, this study examined SRL behaviors among second-year DPT students and explored how small group learning contexts may influence engagement in SRL processes and academic performance.

This mixed-methods study included 39 DPT students enrolled in a physical therapy program at a public university in the southeastern United States. …

Draft Final Silver Bow Creek Conservation Area Materials Management Plan Revision 1, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

The Compass - Volume 95 Issue 1 - Complete Issue, Scott R. Beason

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Launch: Designing Integrated Marketing Communications Across The Publishing Lifecycle, Philip J. Boutin Jr.

AMTP Proceedings 2026

This paper advances a lifecycle view of integrated marketing communications for book publishing and specifies a practical model beyond launch. We present the Lifecycle IMC in Publishing (L-IMC) framework with four layers—strategic capability, orchestration, phased execution (pre-launch, launch, post-publication), and measurement/learning—grounded in evidence on carryover, cross-media complementarity, discoverability, and the creator economy. Seven propositions predict that lifecycle consistency, coordinated post-publication activity, metadata priming, creator–title fit with clear disclosures, network-aware seeding, continuous testing, and reserved reinforcement budgets improve visibility, conversion, and returns. Design principles include codified message architecture and governance, a vetted creator bench, managed discoverability, sequencing high-trust signals before conversion …

Experiential Learning In Marketing Education: Student Reflections In A Client Based Project, Samit Chakravorti

AMTP Proceedings 2026

This paper explores student experience with a client based project in an upper division marketing class and its impact on development of work readiness skills, learning and satisfaction with the course. The client was a local small business food cooperative. Student reflection papers submitted at the end of the project were content analyzed based on preset categories to understand the impact of the project on the outcome variables. Analysis shows that for most students the project was interesting, relevant but challenging, increased their satisfaction and enjoyment of the course, and positively impacted learning of profession specific and foundational work ready …

Ai-Based Multi-Dimensional Coding Of Cancel Culture: Opportunities And Limits Of Llm-Based Categorization, Sairah Abraham, T. Andrew Poehlman

AMTP Proceedings 2026

Large-scale qualitative coding is a bottleneck in marketing research, especially for complex, multi-level phenomena like corporate cancel culture. This paper uses over 100 well-known cancellation events as a testbed to evaluate whether GPT can act as a reliable, low-cost “independent rater” for rich categorical schemes. We develop a multi-dimensional coding framework (trigger locus, controversy source, social issue, moral foundation, and target level) and implement a staged GPT pipeline: zero-shot prompts benchmarked against human “gold standard” coders, scaled to larger samples, then extended with few-shot prompting and fine-tuning for harder constructs such as moral foundations. We compare GPT variants and roles, …

Who Said Cve? How Vulnerability Identifiers Are Mentioned By Humans, Bots, And Agents In Pull Requests, Pien Rooijendijk, Christoph Treude, Mairieli Wessel

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Vulnerability identifiers such as CVE, CWE, and GHSA are standardised references to known software security issues, yet their use in practice is not well understood. This paper compares vulnerability ID use in GitHub pull requests authored by autonomous agents, bots, and human developers. Using the AIDev pop dataset and an augmented set of pull requests from the same repositories, we analyse who mentions vulnerability identifiers and where they appear. Bots account for around 69.1% of all mentions, usually adding few identifiers in pull request descriptions, while human and agent mentions are rarer but span more locations. Qualitative analysis shows that …

Exploring Hemodynamic Signatures Using Event Camera, Zaid Ahmed

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

This thesis investigates event-based sensing for hemodynamic measurements in transmission mode through the human finger. Conventional frame-based imagers are limited by exposure time, frame rate, and motion blur, which reduce sensitivity to fast optical transients. To address these bottlenecks, this thesis introduces a novel transmission-mode sensing framework using a Prophesee EVK4 HD neuromorphic sensor. By capturing asynchronous ON/OFF events generated by local intensity changes, this work presents a new approach to three tasks: intra-finger pulse transit time (PTT) and pulse wave velocity (PWV) estimation, event-based transmission mode laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI), and Flicker Spike Arrival Time (FSAT) Delay Mapping, …

Integration Of Vision-Language-Action Foundation Models For Adaptive Robotic Arm Control In Manufacturing, Nina C. Kanonye

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Industrial automation increasingly demands robots that can adapt to dynamic environments without extensive reprogramming. Traditional robotic systems perform well in structured, repetitive settings but struggle when workspace configurations change. Programming a robot for each new task requires specialized expertise and significant time, creating a barrier for small and medium manufacturers. While recent VLA models have demonstrated strong capabilities in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) agents, existing research has rarely focused on the complex and sequential manufacturing tasks for robotic handling, printing, sorting and assembling. This research investigates whether CogACT can be fine-tuned to perform a pick-and-place task on the Yahboom …