Digital Commons Network^™

A Psychogeography Of The Lower Colorado River Basin, Arren L. Kimbel-Sannit

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dried-up canals. Superheated strip malls. Proliferating data centers. Infinite appetite for growth despite its apparent circumstances. Arizona may well be the state of the American future. This multi-genre series of essays from Arren Kimbel-Sannit offers a personal, political-economic and ecological critique of growth and accumulation in Arizona — from the perspective of someone who grew up in its suburban expanses, reported on its politics, and long sought to clarify his relationship with home.

An Llm-Driven System For Doctor-Patient Simulation, Akilan Amithasagaran

Computer Science Theses

Effective physician-patient communication is fundamental to clinical competence, yet traditional simulation-based training methods using standardized patients and high-fidelity manikins are costly, resource-intensive, and difficult to scale. This dissertation presents CLiVR (Conversational Learning system in Virtual Reality), an LLM-driven system that integrates large language models and 3D avatars to simulate doctor-patient interactions for medical communication training.

CLiVR addresses three key limitations in existing virtual reality medical training platforms. First, the system operates on standalone Meta Quest 3 hardware with realistic 3D patient avatars featuring synchronized lip movements and speech-based interaction. Second, CLiVR grounds LLM responses using a curated syndrome-symptom database, constraining …

(R)Evolutionary Cultural Literacy: Pauli Murray’S Boundary-Crossing Tripartite Pedagogy, Lorise Ann Diamond

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Civil rights lawyer, poet, activist, questioning, and Episcopal priest Pauli Murray spent seven decades generating legal doctrine, autobiography, poetry, and institutional redesign across some of the most hostile yet fecund terrain American public life produced. Scholarship across rhetoric and writing studies, cultural studies, Black feminism, and critical pedagogy has theorized literacy, movement, and commons-making as separate concerns. What the field of cultural literacy lacks is a framework that holds those concerns together, reads them through a focused body of texts, and translates them into a transferable pedagogy applicable across academic, civic, and institutional settings. This dissertation argues that cultural literacy …

“We’Re All In The Struggle Together”: The Experiences Of First-Generation Graduate Students During Covid-19, Rebecca Stallworth, Danielle E. Maurici-Pollock, Jade Obler, Rachel A. Starr

Publications

This study explores the experiences of first-generation graduate students (FGGS) during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically the positive and negative impacts of the pandemic on their learning experiences and their implications for the design of online graduate programs that foster a sense of belonging.

Electron Beam Irradiation Effects On Bulk Metals: A Comparative Study Of Polycrystalline Versus Single-Crystalline Structures, A. A. Elmustafa, N. A. Sultana, A. H. Al-Allaq, M. Ojha, Y. S. Mohammed, J. Vennekate, H. Baumgart

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

This study investigates the effects of electron beam (e-beam) irradiation on the mechanical and structural properties of eight bulk metallic samples, comprising both polycrystalline (PC) and single-crystalline (SC) forms of Ni, Cr, V, and Ti. These metals were evaluated as potential candidates for beam exit windows in high-power (MW-class) particle accelerators. The primary objective is to identify metals capable of withstanding the conditions of high-power/MW-class e-beam accelerators and serve effectively as exit windows. Selection criteria were based on each metal’s intrinsic properties, power dissipation capability, and irradiation-induced changes in mechanical behavior, including hardness, elastic modulus, and defect density. Comprehensive characterization …

From Comparison To Integration: Building Energy Simulation Tool Variability And The Case For Intelligent Retrofit Workflows, Amir Safari, Dalya Ismael, Mahsa Safari, James Freihaut

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

As the urgency to address climate change and modernize energy infrastructure grows, the building sector plays a key role in improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. This study evaluates five energy retrofit strategies for Building 101 at The Navy Yard in Philadelphia, comparing two real-world proposals from energy service companies with three simulation-based packages derived from Building Energy Simulation (BES) tools. The study examined whether advanced BES tools provide greater accuracy and decision-making value compared to simpler alternatives. Electricity savings ranged from 5 % to 40 %, gas savings from 29.7 % to 61 %, and annual cost reductions …

Adaptive Electric Vehicle Routing And Charging With Deep Reinforcement Learning, Mandana Farhang Ghahfarokhi, Hyoshin Park, Venktesh Pandey, Gyugeun Yoon

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

As electric vehicles (EVs) gain popularity, efficient routing and charging solutions remain challenging due to time-dependent travel variability, sparse charging infrastructure, and heterogeneous user preferences. To address these challenges, this paper introduces a decision-support system that integrates three complementary methods: Temporal Multimodal Multivariate Learning (TMML) for real-time characterization of travel time uncertainty, Time-Dependent Shortest Path (TDSP) for reliability-aware route choice, and Deep Q-Network (DQN) reinforcement learning for adaptive charging decisions in sparse infrastructure environments. TMML updates link-level travel time distributions in real-time through Bayesian inference with cluster-based propagation, reducing uncertainties across the network. TDSP leverages these updated distributions to estimate …

An Exploration Of Academic Help-Seeking Among Postsecondary Students: Differences By Gender And Ethnicity, Stephanie Greenquist-Marlett, Linda Bol, Claire Consadine, Courtney Hill

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Students often struggle to employ effective learning and study strategies in postsecondary settings that challenge their academic success. These struggles can be amplified depending on student characteristics like gender and ethnicity. One way to improve their success is an awareness they may need help and how to most productively use this help. We sought to understand students’ patterns of help-seeking behaviors as well as whether these patterns differed by gender and ethnicity. The researcher-developed Academic Help-Seeking Inventory (AHSI) was designed to measure academic help-seeking. Participants were 249 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at two East Coast public universities. An exploratory …

Characterization Of Phytoplankton-Excreted Metabolites Mediating Carbon Flux Through The Surface Ocean, Yuting Zhu, Hanna S. Anderson, Eli Salcedo, Samuel E. Miller, Krista Longnecker, Melissa C. Kido Soule, Sheean T. Haley, Gretchen J. Swarr, Rogier Braakman, Sonya T. Dyhrman, Elizabeth B. Kujawinski

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The marine labile dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pool is a dynamic reservoir of thousands of molecules that cycles approximately one-quarter of Earth’s primary production within days to weeks. After excretion by phytoplankton and other microbes, metabolites are rapidly consumed, resulting in low standing concentrations (picomolar to low nanomolar). Despite the decades-long search for labile DOC sources and molecular identities, marine phytoplankton exometabolomes are not well characterized, largely due to difficulties in measuring small polar molecules in saline water. Here, we profiled the exometabolomes of six axenic phytoplankton species representing key functional groups including a diatom (Thalassiosira pseudonana CCMP1335), a …

The Role Of Education In Reducing Social Inequality: A Systems-Level Analysis Of Socio-Technical Infrastructures And Policy Governance, Aisling O'Shea, Batzorig Dashnyam, Ximena Quintanilla

Women's & Gender Studies Faculty Publications

Social inequality remains one of the most persistent challenges to global systemic stability, threatening the robustness of democratic institutions and economic sustainability. Education has long been theorized as the primary mechanism for social mobility and the mitigation of disparate life outcomes; however, its role within modern socio-technical infrastructures is increasingly complex and often contradictory. This paper provides a comprehensive systems-level analysis of the relationship between educational architecture and social stratification. By examining the structural trade-offs inherent in contemporary pedagogical deployment, the research evaluates how institutional governance, digital infrastructure, and policy mandates either facilitate or hinder the reduction of inequality. The …

Sulfhydryl-Functionalized Diarylethenes: Synthesis, Photoswitching, And Fluorescent Properties, Pramod Aryal, Jonathan Bietsch, Gowri Sankar Grandhi, Josh Choi, Guijun Wang

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Sulfhydryl group (SH) plays important roles in reactions with various functional groups, especially in biologically active systems. Photoswitchable diarylethene (DAE) derivatives have demonstrated applications in many research fields. Among the many classes of diarylethene derivatives, thiol derivatives have not been extensively explored. In this study, we systematically synthesized and characterized a series of bis-thiol functionalized dithienylethene derivatives. The thiol groups in this series are attached directly to the thiophene, or through a phenyl or methylene linker. Each series incorporated both dithienyl cyclopentene and hexafluorocyclopentene bridges and total six thiol substituted diarylethenes were synthesized. Among the six sulfhydryl DAE derivatives, four …

Land Use Influences Dissolved Organic Matter Composition In The U.S. Coastal Critical Zone Network, Aleksandar I. Goranov, Elizabeth V. Whitney, Brian R. Moyer, Katherine L. Tully, Patrick G. Hatcher, Yu-Ping Chhin

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Coastal watersheds are highly productive biogeochemical systems supporting robust coastal fisheries and contributing significantly to the marine gross primary production flux. These ecosystems are comprised of civil infrastructure, farms, forests, and marshes, and their diversity is reflected in the quantity and quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Here, we assess the role of farming in influencing DOM from surface waters of six coastal tidal creeks adjacent to forest and farm sites in the US Critical Zone Network. Molecular fingerprinting using electrospray ionization - Fourier transform - ion cyclotron resonance - mass spectrometry revealed that farm-influenced DOM was enriched in nitrogen-, …

Multidentate Surfactant-Dependent Synthesis Of Giant Iridium Superstructures, Ramjee Balasubramanian, Maeren E. Hill

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Giant superstructures of iridium, comprised of smaller spherical and slightly larger anisotropic nanoparticles, were synthesized by reducing iridium chloride in the presence of resorcinarene, a class of tetrameric macrocyclic polyphenols, with sodium borohydride in ethanol in 30 min under mild conditions. These superstructures were characterized by a range of techniques including TEM, HRTEM, EDS and other spectroscopic methods. The impact of the macrocyclic surfactant, its features and reaction conditions in dictating the formation of giant iridium superstructures was evaluated. The packing density of nanoparticles in these giant iridium superstructures could be altered qualitatively by varying the duration of the reaction, …

References, Appendices & All Parts Merged, Konstantin Likharev

Essential Graduate Physics

Includes: Appendix MA: Selected Mathematical Formulas; Appendix UCA: Selected Physical Units and Constants; References; EGP merged file (all parts, appendices, and references)

A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Racial Justice In Virginia Higher Education, Abigail Green

Honors Theses

This honors thesis examines the extent to which public Virginia higher education institutions engage their institutional histories in leadership rhetoric when responding to the Trump administration’s anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Employing a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) following Mullet’s (2018) seven-step framework with an inductive coding approach and grounded in rhetorical history theory, this study analyzes official statements from the Offices of the President and Provost across four case study institutions: the University of Virginia (UVA), George Mason University (GMU), the College of William & Mary (W&M), and Longwood University (LU). Data sources span two time periods: May 2020 …

Antitrust And Tech Giants: Learning From United States V. Google Llc, Marcus D’Agostino

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

This Note addresses the evolution of antitrust regulation and enforcement in the United States, with a focus on the recent case of United States v. Google LLC. That case is used to frame the broader problem of insufficient remedies being implemented against large technology firms. The mild remedies granted to the government in Google reinforce the findings of the 2020 Congressional Report on Digital Competition. The Report recommended changes to the antitrust laws that would revive structural separation as a remedy. This Note argues that the body of evidence presented compels structural separation to be used more frequently as the …

Mathematical Model Of Graphene, Douglas M. Sanor

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Graphene, a single-atom-thick layer of carbon arranged in a hexagonal lattice, exhibits exceptional mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties that make it a promising material for a wide range of engineering applications. This paper presents a mathematical framework for modeling the mechanical behavior of graphene, with a focus on atomistic-to-continuum approaches. We begin with a onedimensional Frenkel-Kontorova model that represents graphene as a discrete chain of particles interacting with both their nearest neighbors through harmonic spring potentials and an underlying substrate through van der Waals forces. Numerical simulations of this discrete model demonstrate the commensurate-toincommensurate phase transition, revealing how geometric mismatch …

A Ministry Manual For Supporting Pastoral Transitions: Addressing The Emotional And Spiritual Needs Of Clergy And Their Families, John Tucker

Dissertations

Pastoral transitions represent spiritually significant yet often under-supported moments in the life of clergy, congregations, and ministry networks. While leadership change is frequently framed in theological language emphasizing divine calling and institutional continuity, insufficient attention is given to the emotional, relational, and familial dimensions of these transitions. This Doctor of Ministry project examines the spiritual and emotional impact of pastoral transitions within African American church contexts, with particular attention to clergy wellbeing and systems of care.

This study employed a mixed-methods research design integrating quantitative survey data with qualitative semi-structured interviews. Survey instruments were distributed to pastors affiliated with The …

Silent Struggles: The Hidden Burden Of Depression Among Black Single Mothers In Ghana, Sonja Brown

Doctor of Ministry

Reflections Through the Single Mothers of the Bible examines depression among Black single mothers in Ghana as an overlooked yet urgent mental, physical, economic, social, and Spiritual concern, highlighting the need for integrated Faith-based and community-centered responses. While global attention to maternal mental health has increased, the lived experiences of Black single mothers, particularly within faith-shaped, patriarchal, and economically constrained Ghanaian contexts, remain underrepresented in scholarly research, theological discourse, and public policy. This gap presents a problem and an opportunity to develop holistic, culturally responsive, and faith-informed approaches to care and advocacy.

This dissertation argues that depression among Black single …

Digging Deep: Food Sovereignty, Belonging & Community- A Systemic Approach, Julie Lynn Gullett

Doctor of Ministry

Set in the rural, agrarian context of Lewis County, Washington, one of the poorest counties in Washington State, this project explores the following NPO: Addressing the concerns of marginalized populations by fostering care of Creation, offers an innovative path to meaningful reciprocal community connections, and a future filled with hope. Drawing on the wisdom and methodologies of Seedpod Farm, my vocational context, a key insight of the Project centered on three interrelated outcomes that my research identified as critical for success: Sovereignty through the development of food skills, belonging through mentoring and cohort relationships, and fostering community connections through service. …

Generative Ai Professional Development Program For Higher Education Instructors, Sheena Bahra

Dissertations

As technology progresses and brings enhanced forms of artificial intelligence (AI), such as generative AI (Gen AI), it continues to affect education by introducing opportunities and challenges in its application to higher education teaching. Advances in technology can make instructors reluctant to use applications, leading to missed learning and skill-development opportunities for higher-order thinking skills. This study investigates how AI professional development (PD) training can influence higher education instructors’ willingness to use Gen AI in the classroom. This study employed a qualitative instrumental case study design informed by an exploratory lens. The study investigated instructors’ use of Gen AI in …

Testing The Governance Premium: Board Gender Diversity And Crisis-Period Returns During The Pandemic, Rhea Kulkarni

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines whether board gender diversity predicts cumulative abnormal returns for S&P 1500 firms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Motivated by prior evidence linking board gender diversity to crisis-period stock performance and the broader question of whether governance quality is priced during periods of acute market stress, this study estimates cumulative abnormal returns across three economically distinct event windows covering the crash, recovery, and post-recovery periods using the Carhart (1997) four-factor model to test whether board composition translated into divergent outcomes across firms. The results fail to find evidence that board gender diversity predicts cumulative abnormal returns across any of …

Sustainable Mobility In International, European And National Law: A Perspective From Europe, Lando Kirchmair

Journal of Law and Mobility

This Article develops a European perspective on sustainable mobility, a concept still underexamined in legal scholarship, and argues that meeting today’s mobility needs while preserving ecological foundations for future generations will not occur without deliberate regulatory intervention. After clarifying the evolution of the core concepts of sustainability, mobility, and sustainable mobility, the Article shows how international, European, and Austrian law have progressively incorporated sustainability goals in the transport sector. It then proposes a taxonomy of financial incentives–from subsidies and tax breaks to behavioral nudges—and evaluates their effectiveness, emphasizing the need for flexible, context-specific regulatory instruments. Applying these insights to self-driving …

Book Review: Automobiles, Cultures And The Question Of Law, Stephen M. Young

Journal of Law and Mobility

Unsettling Colonial Automobilities: Criminalisation and Contested Sovereignties is a compelling interdisciplinary and multileveled study that sits at the intersection of law, criminology, settler colonial studies, and cultural analysis. The authors are well-suited to this task. They include Professors Harry Blagg, with expertise in First Nations community-engaged criminology; Thalia Anthony, from legal and carceral studies; Wiradjuri scholar Juanita Sherwood, who studies Indigenous health and community research; and Kieran Tranter, an expert in cultural legal theory. Together, they offer a layered interrogation of how the motor vehicle and automobility shape the settler colonial ordering of Australia.

This review is comprised of three …

The Physiology Of Burnout: A Neuro Sustainable Model For Social Work Stability, Mindi Radtke

Social Work Student Works

The Physiology of BurnoutThis independent study introduces NeuroSustainability, a professional framework designed to move the discourse of clinician endurance away from "individual grit" and toward the preservation of Cognitive Capital. In the modern social work landscape, practitioners are trapped in an Implementation Paradox, where the biological necessity of recovery is undermined by high-friction work environments and systemic noise. This chronic friction facilitates allostatic overload, a state of biological debt that triggers structural remodeling of the brain: specifically, the atrophy of the prefrontal cortex-the seat of complex decision-making-and the hypertrophy of the amygdala, which increases reactive anxiety.  The paper identifies three …

Pressure Field Estimation From 2d-Piv Measurements: A Case Study Of Fish Suction-Feeding, Jensine C. Coggin, Duvall Dickerson-Evans, Erin E. Hackett, Roi Gurka

Marine Science

Particle image velocimetry (PIV) flow measurements are common practice in laboratory settings in a wide variety of fields involving fluid dynamics, including biology, physics, engineering, and medicine. Dynamic fluid pressure is a notoriously difficult property to measure non-intrusively, yet its variation is a driving flow force and critical to model correctly. Techniques have been developed to estimate the pressure from velocity and velocity gradient measurements. Here, we highlight a novel application of boundary conditions when applying such pressure estimation techniques based on two-dimensional PIV data; the novel method is especially relevant to problems with complex boundary conditions. As such, it …

Gone But Not Forgotten: Collaborative Telemetry Network Provides Insight Into Out-Of-System Movements Of Common Snook, Victoria S. Goldner, Mack White, Cody W. Eggenberger, Alia A. Jones, Cameron C. Atkinson, Jonathan R. Rodemann, W. Ryan James, Jordan A. Massie, Andrea M. Kroetz, Patrick M. O’Donnell, Ross E. Boucek, Rolando O. Santos, Jennifer S. Rehage

Marine Science

Objective The objective of this study was to examine the movements of Common Snook Centropomus undecimalis, a tropical euryhaline species, out of the Shark River, Everglades National Park, Florida, USA, and gain a better understanding of their long-distance regional movements. Methods This study used 7 years (2017–2023) of acoustic telemetry data from the Shark River Florida Coastal Everglades Array and from five other collaborative telemetry arrays in southwestern Florida to assess out-of-system movements for 119 Common Snook. Generalized linear models were used to assess the relationships between out-of-system movements and biological and environmental variables. Results Most Common Snook departures took …

In Vivo Telemetry To Record Long-Term Cardiovascular Parameters, Temperature, And Activity In Spinal Cord Injury Rat Models, Sajeev Kaur, Anna M. Baur, Jillian A. Condrey, Dorottya P. Gal, Samir P. Patel, John C. Gensel

Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center Faculty Publications

Higher-level spinal cord injury (SCI) above thoracic level 6 (T6) disrupts autonomic function and contributes to secondary complications, including fluctuations in blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature. In rats, the placement of telemetric implants in the descending aorta offers a robust methodology for assessing various cardiovascular parameters, such as systolic and diastolic pressure, mean arterial pressure, and heart rate. Core body temperature and animal activity can also be recorded following telemetric implant placement. A rat with a telemetric implant is kept on the receiver plate connected to a computer system for recording various parameters. Continuous long-term recordings at defined time …

Investigating The Connection Between Als Through The Mutation R522s In The Rna Binding Protein, Dennia Estrella-Vargas, Lydia Uptain

Mathematics

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal disease that causes the deterioration of motor neurons , death is usually due to respiratory paralysis. The variant R522S was chosen because it is near a hot spot of pathogenic variants. It is an arginine-to-serine swap, this swap is present in pathogenic variants near the 522 position, such as R514S, R521S, R524S. Recent evidence suggests that arginine-deficiency can influence disease progression.

Formal Vs. Informal Disclosure Of Campus Sexual Assault: Social Reactions, Institutional Responses, And Associated Posttraumatic Stress, Karyna Fowler

Honors Theses

With research demonstrating increasing rates of sexual victimization on college campuses (Koss et al., 1987; Koss et al., 2022), sexual assault disclosure has become a critical construct with implications for victim-survivors’ posttraumatic stress (PTS) and healing. In the present mixed-methods study, college students (N = 558) at Bucknell University completed a survey assessing sexual victimization, disclosure, peer responses, institutional betrayal and support, and PTS; a subset (n = 9) participated in qualitative interviews examining social reactions, barriers to disclosure, and present functioning. Consistent with hypotheses, women reported significantly higher rates of sexual victimization than men; disclosure was relatively infrequent (26.5%) …